There is no perfect place -- that's something upon which we all can agree. However, we can come pretty darned close. Ever-mindful of our quest for a new place to live -- a place in which the grass is always, always greener -- the magazine industry has taken the responsibility upon itself to identify the country's "best" cities. These "best of the best" lists generate big readership, and with good reason. The criteria used to produce these lists ranges from thought-provoking to fun to downright nonsensical -- take, for example, Ladies' Home Journal's recent category: "Hair Daze," indicating the number of "good hair days" a woman could anticipate in her prospective hometown. (In all fairness, those little irritations have been known to become big ones before long.)

Point Of View (P.O.V.) magazine, whose target audience is young, career-minded men, recently named its list of the "Best Cities to Start a Business" in its December/January issue. Interestingly enough, most of the cities named as best for women found their way onto P.O.V.'s list, as well.

Using the criteria including quality of life, "coolness" (no elaboration for this category was provided), educated workforce, taxes, infrastructure, success ratio, and job growth, P.O.V. studied 75 U.S. cities and ranked them accordingly. Ranking first is Austin, Texas; followed by Orlando, Fla.; Salt Lake City; Charleston, S.C.; Las Vegas; Seattle; Charlottesville, Va.; Chicago; Fort Myers, Fla.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Minneapolis ranked #21;and Portland, Maine, ranked #45. Again, smaller cities fared better than larger ones. Of the top 25 cities on P.O.V.'s list, only three have populations larger than 600,000, and 12 of the top 25 have less than 200,000 residents. The South took five of the top 10 slots, and the Southeast represented eight of the top 25. Northeastern cities were nowhere to be found in the top 25 of the list, and Chicago (#8) was the only Midwestern city to make its way into the top 10.

FORTUNE magazine recently unveiled its top 10 "Best and Most Improved Cities." While the vitality of our national economy has strengthened across the board, some cities have bounced back more quickly than others. In contrast to the old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, FORTUNE took a stab at identifying places where the grass is just fine where it is, using criteria including rate of growth, number of new businesses, and quality of life throughout a five- to 10-year period. Those broad categories encompass more detailed measures like cost of labor, education level of the workforce, office rental rates, and accessibility, as well as opportunities for recreation and culture, crime level, and quality of schools. Particularly noteworthy is the average increase in personal income between 1990 and 1996 in these 10 cities; the lowest average increase is 24.%, and Seattle residents enjoyed a staggering 32.3% increase. Here's a look at some of their findings:

Most Improved Cities

1. New York
2. Denver/Boulder
3. Boston
4. Seattle
5. Raleigh/Durham
6. Cleveland
7. Indianapolis
8. Toronto
9. Atlanta
10. Richmond

The following charts give a city-by-city breakdown of statistics compiled by FORTUNE, in conjunction with the Business Location Services Practice of Arthur Andersen. Although some criteria -- unemployment rate, for example -- is more critical than others (case in point, the number of Starbucks coffee houses in each city ... guess who won?), all of these stats provide food for thought -- or amusement -- when considering your next move.

Coming Friday: What's it like to live in the "best" cities? Get the latest stats on quality of life -- as well as fun factor -- in tomorrow's "Best Cities" report. The facts might surprise you.

Published: December 11, 1997

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