# My Town is in the Top 10 Places to Live in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 12, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161 "2005-07-12T12:17:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/41 "2005-07-13T15:21:53Z")
I really, really hate these lists that spring up in every magazine/newspaper/tv show every 6 months. People live in different areas for different reasons. Some people like busy metro areas, some like to live out in the boonies. Some like arts, some like sports, some are single, some are families, some like it hot, some like seasons to change, some like to shop. Some like the mountains, some like the ocean, some like the plains. It’s pretty much crap to try to make a list of “Best Places to Live” IMHO because nobody will ever agree on such a list. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/42 "2005-07-13T18:50:20Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > Hey, what do these people have against large cities? I like living in the city. I wouldn’t want to live in any of these places. People who don’t live in big cities are fucking pussies. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/43 "2005-07-13T19:57:36Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > People who don’t live in big cities are fucking pussies. Help me out here, **Trunk** : are ya’ doing the joke thing? Being serious? Drugs? Spiritual epiphany? Be a gem and let us know. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/44 "2005-07-13T20:02:40Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Plus, I look at the list for New Mexico and think, “Who the hell would want to live in Rio Rancho?” Ha Ha. Back in the '70s they used to have commercials for Rio Rancho where I grew up in New Jersey. Being the clueless malcontent that I was it looked really good to me. I think mostly because it wasn’t New Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/45 "2005-07-13T22:05:45Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You know one of the towns on the list [doesn’t exist](http://www.nbc10.com/news/4712294/detail.html)? If you read the whole article, you will see that they defined the study by zipcodes. **St. Urho** , you’re in! Maybe it 'cause I’m on the list, but I happen to like my little town. Its quiet, but there’s lots to do, not overcrowded, not overtaxed. If I were rating towns, I’d put Middleton, or should I say 53562, on the list somewhere. Of course, I haven’t lived in the other 99…but I’m still young. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/46 "2005-07-14T11:22:19Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Help me out here, **Trunk** : are ya’ doing the joke thing? Being serious? Drugs? Spiritual epiphany? Be a gem and let us know. Honestly, in the light of a new day, I’m not sure what I was going for. I might have seen something as a perceived slight. I might have just wanted to see “fucking pussies” in print. I’m aware that I’m not that good at censoring myself and I’m usually unapologetic about it, but I really don’t know why I posted that. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/47 "2005-07-14T15:40:51Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Ha Ha. Back in the '70s they used to have commercials for Rio Rancho where I grew up in New Jersey. Being the clueless malcontent that I was it looked really good to me. I think mostly because it wasn’t New Jersey. Actually, what was really funny was that almost all of the “good life” things they included in the study–like libraries, movie theatres, colleges, golf courses (?), museums, and so on–are pretty much all in Albuquerque. Museums and zoos? Albuquerque. Golf courses? Albuquerque, except for the one Sandia Pueblo just built. Libraries–well, it’s a rather large system, but most of the branches are in Albuquerque. And so on. Basically, it’s a BS study that takes no geography into account and places odd limits on what they will consider. ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/48 "2005-07-14T16:29:02Z")
Petaluma, Ca is number 88? I’ve been there about 7 or 8 times and from what I saw, that town’s a hole! F’d up sidewalks, run down homes, shady characters. Rohnert Park (10 minutes north on the 101) I could see making the list, but Petaluma?!?? That’s where the Polly Klaas murder/kidnapping took place. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/49 "2005-07-14T17:52:00Z")
> [@Bomzaway](#): > > Petaluma, Ca is number 88? I’ve been there about 7 or 8 times and from what I saw, that town’s a hole! F’d up sidewalks, run down homes, shady characters. Rohnert Park (10 minutes north on the 101) I could see making the list, but Petaluma?!?? > > That’s where the Polly Klaas murder/kidnapping took place. I have no idea why I’m doing this, since making fun of Petaluma is one of my hobbies (see: earlier in this thread) but I feel compelled to defend my hometown. Sort of. The streets are TERRIBLE. A few years ago some independent study had them as the worst in the Bay Area. So, okay, no defense there. The main drag is a shithole. Get off the main streets, and there are a lot of very nice houses and neighborhoods. Tree-lined streets, wooden houses with well-tended gardens, the whole suburban Americana thing. It’s one of the few places in the entire state that has a lot of buildings standing from the nineteenth century - it’s only 20 minutes away from the epicenter of the great quake of '06, but for some mysterious reason suffered very little damage, and downtown is filled with buildings from the 1850s on. Most of those buildings are filled with antique shops and cafes and cutsey tchotcke shops that my mom is always dragging me into. A number of films and commercials meant to evoke quiet suburbia have been filmed there - including Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” campaign ad, and I don’t think he was trying to imply that morning in America is a shithole. Your suggestion that Rohnert Park is better is hysterical to me. Rohnert Park is the ghetto of Sonoma County. The high school is filled with gang members. The city is so planned that the streets are arranged by letter. There’s the B section, the C section, and so on. New, ugly houses painted drab, boring colors. They don’t even have a bookstore! Who would want to live in a town with a bookstore? Yes, it’s true, someone was kidnapped and murdered there. _Twelve years ago_. Clearly, crime central. The average murder rate is zero. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/50 "2005-07-14T21:31:36Z")
Did anyone click the coldest list? Oh yes, we rule! ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161/51 "2005-07-15T00:51:51Z")
Details about the judging critera were in [Story the Desoto County Commercial Appeal](http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/desoto/article/0,1426,MCA_451_3925236,00.html) (registration required). > [@](#): > > The researchers first eliminated places that aren’t within 60 miles of a major airport and 30 miles of a major teaching hospital. They also eliminated towns with low education scores or that fell below the 25th percentile in any two of the following: Unemployment, income growth, crime or arts resources. > > That left 100 cities. Researchers gave twice as much weight to economic, education and safety factors as to arts, leisure and park space. The critera pretty much eliminated major cities, but favored suburbs of major cities (Olive Branch does not have a major airport or a major teaching hospital – but Memphis does). The survey obviously isn’t looking for the same things many of us look for in “quality of life”. I personally go to concerts, museums and parks more frequently than I go to the airport or to major teaching hospitals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-town-is-in-the-top-10-places-to-live-in-the-us/312161.md?page=2)