Looking to move just for the fun of it?

When Kraft Food's Ritz Cracker division commissioned Bert Sperling's BestPlaces.net to find fun in America, data that included outdoor recreation resources, fun spending, sports and recreation, in-home entertainment didn't point them to New York City or even Las Vegas as the top "FUNomenal Place."

No, Seattle, got the nod as No. 1 on the list of "Ritz Cracker FUNomenal Places."

That's because Emerald City residents have higher than average participation in social activities such as block parties and barbecues, they rank near the top in several other fun categories, including skiing, access to amusement parks, and a plethora of dog parts -- 17 in total.

Seattle residents also spend a high percentage of their income on doing fun stuff, including above average spending on gyms, sporting events, movies and theater, bicycles, and musical instruments.

Seattle is also surrounded by more verdant forests and parks than any other major U.S. metro area, and its nearby oceans, rivers, and lakes make the city a great location for fun.

Ritz released the fun town findings in conjunction with its 75th anniversary.

After Seattle came Minneapolis, MN; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; San Jose, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; San Diego, CA; and New York, NY.

California, with four cities in the Top 10, was the top state for fun and it's not just about the Sun.

San Francisco, CA was the top spot for active fun. City residents spend more money annually for their park system than any other city in our study, and with 26 off-leash dog parks, the City by the Bay had the most dog parks per person.

Who says tech geeks don't have fun. In San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley, 400 hiking trails, high levels of spending on sporting events, movies, recreation lessons and bicycles; and nearby windsurfing, water surfing and snow sports makes it a hit for fun seekers.

Forget celebrity watching. Los Angeles scored high marks for its eight major amusement parks and a host of museums, sports teams and nearby state and local parks.

And San Diego year-round mild temperatures and dry weather make it tough to stay indoors and easy to spend the day surfing, windsurfing, biking, and running, according to the study.

The "Ritz Cracker FUNomenal Places" study evaluated 50 of the largest metro areas in the United States, and identified the most fun cities using a variety of data, including outdoor recreation resources, spending on fun activities, sports and recreation, and in-home entertainment, as well as participation in and spending on social activities.

Published: June 18, 2009

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.