In April, Forbes released their America’s Most Livable Cities list and we have that list in Finder!. With some talk of home prices finally beginning to increase, people may want to hurry up and buy a home while they are still affordable or follow through with their relocating plans. If your looking for a new city to call home, this list may come in handy. I thought it would be cool to examine Forbes top 15 Most Livable Cities and the different factors they use by making maps with Maker! using this and other Finder! datasets.
This first map shows the 15 cities by their Livable Score. As you can see, the East Coast scores high while none of the 15 are on the west cost. Cost of living and unemployment may be a factor in that pattern. You can click on the map to see it in Maker! where you can look at the specific factors for each city.
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One of the indices Forbes used is unemployment. This map shows the 15 cities by unemployment rates along with July foreclosure rates by state.
Lastly, I made a map showing the 15 cities by the Cost of Living Score (this is out of the 372 cities looked at by Forbes) along with 2008 Sales Tax by State. It is interesting that many of the cities chosen are in states with a high sales tax. Also, the East Coast cities all have a fairly high Cost of Living Score.
Well I hope you enjoy this dataset and that you aren’t too offended if your city did not make the Top 15 or… if you are a West Coaster! |
2 Responses to Dataset of the Day: America's Most Livable Cities
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Nice maps, but Forbes is an awful source for this data. I live in one of the 15 cities listed and it’s well known for having one of the top 10 crime rates in the nation, so I don’t know how Forbes came up with it’s rating. I’m also familiar with some of the other cities and their crime rates are not so good either.
Yes, I agree. I am also from one of the cities known for it’s crime (maybe the same as you) and I was supprised to see us on there. I’m guessing that although crime was included, it did not carry as much weight as other measures. That being said, as long as you stay away from sketchy street corners at night, my city can be a great and affordable place to live and i was proud to see it make the list.