CNNMoney.com has Money Magazine’s “Top 100 Best Places to Live” list up.
The list factors in numerous items. There are several items included in broad categories of financial, housing, education, quality of life, leisure and culture, weather, health and neighborhood demographics.
Plymouth, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis takes top honors.
Arizona placed five cities on the list: Gilbert (#28), Chandler (#30), Scottsdale (#47) and Peoria (#55). Hmmm, apparently the east side rules… 
Curiously, not one single Arizona city made the Top 100 list in 2007.
Here is the page with Gilbert’s breakdown in the various categories.
I’m not real sure if there is a whole lot of value in comparing statistics to determine “the best place to live”. Much of why people love (or hate) where they live goes far beyond demographics and statistics.
None the less, for a stats junkie such as myself, there is a ton of interesting data to be gleaned form this list. Some of it is interesting — like the fact that there are 3,384 restaurants within 15 miles of Gilbert (or more importantly, 253 public golf courses within 30 miles). But I’m not sure I need to know, or care, that the average body mass index of Gilbert residents is 27.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Charleston Real Estate Blog 07.15.08 at 2:11 pm
Jay, congratulations to your hometown. But did you see some of those cities. Did anyone from CNN Money actually visit.
And with all those restaurants nearby, is that good or bad for the body mass
Jon Griffith 07.15.08 at 4:36 pm
Well, I’ll have to agree with that. Within 17 days both of my listings in Gilbert which went on the market on the 2nd of June were under contract.
It’s a hot market out there.
Bluetooth 07.16.08 at 3:43 am
Gilbert certainly seems to be a wonderful place to visit or live in! But Melbourne too is an amazing place to live in indeed!
Ken in Elgin 07.16.08 at 12:27 pm
“Curiously, not one single Arizona city made the Top 100 list in 2007.”
Wonder if some of the areas are making the list now that they are more affordable. It is part of the equation that is used for this list.
Kontaktlinsen 07.17.08 at 12:27 pm
if i live in america - i would like to live in california.
but here in germany is also nice.
Dr Saxe 07.18.08 at 10:57 am
It sounds like Arizona is the place to live, we have been losing people from the East to the West coast for years and easy to see why now.
Respectfully
Dr Saxe