Durham at No. 5 on magazine’s list of best places to live

 

Durham has won the attention of U.S. News and World Report.

The Bull City has been placed fifth on the magazine’s Best Places to Live 2009 ranking released Tuesday.

The magazine praised the town’s rebirth as a medical and tech hub for its strong performance, saying: “Once a tobacco town, Durham, N.C., has evolved into a world-class center of all things advanced.”

Albuquerque, N.M., topped the list, which was determined by studying a database of 2,000 locales that contained crime rates, local economies, living costs and entertainment options, among other factors.

The other cities on the top 10 list were Auburn, Ala.; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; La Crosse, Wis.; Loveland, Colo.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; St. Augustine, Fla. and Upper St. Clair, Pa.

 

To see the entire article,  click the link below.

 

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/real-estate/2009/06/08/best-places-to-live-2009.html?PageNr=2

 

Charlotte ranks as Southeast’s No. 3 city

 

A new study ranks Charlotte third among nine Southeastern metro areas on a range of factors affecting economic growth.

 

The benchmarking index was compiled by Harrison Campbell, associate professor of geography at UNC Charlotte.

He ranked the metro areas on employment and labor; income and productivity; livability and connectivity; new economy; and equity and diversity in a report prepared for the Charlotte Chamber.

The report, dubbed Benchmark Charlotte 2009, ranked the Charlotte area first for income and productivity and second for livability and connectivity.

Charlotte fared worse, however, on having a new economy (fifth place), employment and work force (fifth place), and equity and diversity (sixth place).

The Raleigh-Durham area achieved the No. 1 overall ranking, followed by Austin, Texas. The Atlanta area ranked No. 4, followed in order by Dallas; Richmond, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.; and Jacksonville, Fla.

Raleigh is #1 in the country !
Charlotte is #3 in the country!

U.S. migration may be down overall, but these vibrant metro areas are still attracting newcomers.

In Depth: 10 Cities Where Americans Are Relocating Unemployment is on the rise, credit is tight, and consumers aren’t spending–which means they aren’t picking up and moving much either. Very few places in America saw significant population growth in 2008.

But the buzzing metropolitan area of Denver bucked that trend. Its population increased by 2.17% in 2008. In 2007, it increased by 2.09%. In 2008, Denver was the 10th-fastest growing metro area in the U.S.

Despite the overall economic slowdown, some parts of the country keep on moving ahead, attracting more and more newcomers–even if it’s at a slower pace than in more sound economic times. These places still offer a semblance of stability, as well as great weather, cultural life and, in many cases, affordability.

Behind the Numbers
To determine the fastest-growing metro areas in the country, we used 2008 population estimates for metropolitan statistical areas with a population over 1 million, released March 19, 2009, by the U.S. Census Bureau. MSAs are geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics.

We then compared the 2008 population estimates to the previous year’s data to see which areas had grown the most, percentage-wise.

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Nine places fared even better than Denver, though they share similar qualities: more business opportunities, better weather and more affordable housing. The top three areas according to the data are Raleigh, N.C., ranking first, which jumped 4.29% to nearly 1.9 million; Austin, Texas, which came in second, with a 3.77% increase to almost 1.7 million; and Charlotte, N.C., which moved up 3.36% to 1.7 million.

Read the entire report by clicking the link below:

Top Ten List