Top 5 Most Livable US Cities 2014

[mhays]

Originally Posted by Crawford

You're right; I have a preoccupation with actual, verifiable Census statistics over SSP anecdotes. Call me crazy.

You also use words straight from the official dictionary! That doesn't mean you use them correctly or know their context.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Census statistics aren't infallable. Haven't cities like Detroit and Cincinnati (and probably several others I'm forgetting) successfully argued against undercounting by census takers?

[mhays]

Even perfect building permit statistics don't recognize how BPs work. Depending on the city, you can get a building permit in 2008 and build in 2014. Or maybe they label different types of buildings differently than other places, particularly townhouses, group homes, dorms, live-work units, hotels with monthly rates, etc., some of which might not count as residential at all. Many projects get permits but never build. And so on.

Using statistics should generally follow knowing what they mean. But we get people who don't know anything and use them anyway.

[AaronPGH]

There are more units under construction outside of my bedroom window at this moment than those 2012-2014 numbers from the census bureau combined.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by fflint

Pittsburgh's place atop this list is not a one-off or a fluke. This isn't the first time the Economist has given the city high marks, nor is that the only publication to do so. And I'm genuinely interested in what it is about Pittsburgh that garners such high regard.

I remember reading our newspaper's analysis on this – that Pittsburgh does above average in most metrics these types of studies use. No real 'top dawg' #1 / #2 rankings, but good and balanced scores across the board. And that we don't have any categories where we ranked terribly, which most cities have dragging them down somewhere in the mix.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

There are more units under construction outside of my bedroom window at this moment than those 2012-2014 numbers from the census bureau combined.

No doubt. There's over 800 units under construction just on Penn Ave and Baum Blvd in the east end.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

There are more units under construction outside of my bedroom window at this moment than those 2012-2014 numbers from the census bureau combined.

If they're under construction, they wouldn't be included in any prior census ...

[Jelly Roll]

Originally Posted by fflint

Pittsburgh's place atop this list is not a one-off or a fluke. This isn't the first time the Economist has given the city high marks, nor is that the only publication to do so. And I'm genuinely interested in what it is about Pittsburgh that garners such high regard.

And can we just dispense with the talk about population growth? It is clearly not a major factor in determining what the Economist considers 'livability.'

Pittsburgh used to be a very wealthy city with a tradition of philanthropy. Many of the foundations and cultural institutions continue to exist today even though they were founded back in Pittsburgh's heyday. This translates into a city that has many amenities that are usually only found in the bigger cities. Add in the low cost of living and Pittsburgh becomes a place that offers a lot for a good value.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by fflint

Pittsburgh's place atop this list is not a one-off or a fluke. This isn't the first time the Economist has given the city high marks, nor is that the only publication to do so. And I'm genuinely interested in what it is about Pittsburgh that garners such high regard.

And can we just dispense with the talk about population growth? It is clearly not a major factor in determining what the Economist considers 'livability.'

Yes, please. Besides, I call shenanigans on the US Census Bureau. IMHO They are clueless when it comes to what's happening in Pittsburgh. If their numbers are true, then what's being built in the city should be almost empty.

I think they were more accurate in stating that the city gained roughly 3k people between 2010 and 2013. Central core residential is in serious demand and some of the more troubled neighborhoods are beginning to turn the corner (Homewood, Larimer). East Liberty is already becoming a full fledged downtown.

Yeah I'm about to knock my hometown in this paragraph, but I don't see how Pittsburgh could possibly have even a "passable" transit system. It only has one light rail line (well, two, but they are concurrent over a good part of the system including the subway loop). It needs to be expanded where feasible and viable and the same goes for BRT (they are pushing to get BRT down 5th Avenue between Oakland and Downtown).

Oh, and the EPA needs to do something with this insinuation that Pittsburgh's air quality is about the same as LA's! They need to move their AQ recording location THE HELL AWAY from the Clairton works or Irvin plant -- wherever the hell it is now! Pittsburgh's air is NOT that dirty! The city only has 2 steel mills left as opposed to the dozen-plus it had more than a generation ago!

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by emathias

If they're under construction, they wouldn't be included in any prior census ...

So what are those numbers representing?

[Private Dick]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Oh, and the EPA needs to do something with this insinuation that Pittsburgh's air quality is about the same as LA's! They need to move their AQ recording location THE HELL AWAY from the Clairton works or Irvin plant -- wherever the hell it is now! Pittsburgh's air is NOT that dirty! The city only has 2 steel mills left as opposed to the dozen-plus it had more than a generation ago!

Pittsburgh's air quality is poor. Stop with the uninformed protest.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Pittsburgh's air quality is poor. Stop with the uninformed protest.

Yep.

[Chase Unperson]

Originally Posted by jcchii

it really is like Miami

just remember to duck every now and again

I'll never forget coming down from Calgary to go breaking in Chicago in late February. Walking around with a mojito on Michigan Ave and heading over to oak street beach to see the European style bathers

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

The Economist has no clue about the US or American cities. They are commonwealth-centric. Really, "two solitudes" of English speaking culture globally at this point.

List (urban area definition) should be something like (poor - ok - good - great)

5. Portland (great recreation, poor job market, ok cost of living, poor educational opportunities, good cultural opportunities)

I know this list is sorta tongue-in-cheek but I had to stick up for my town a little here -- Portland's not REALLY where "young people go to retire" haha

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...s.html?s=print

Cover Story: Is Portland becoming a victim of its own success?
SUBSCRIBER CONTENT: Aug 29, 2014

“The gravity has shifted,” said Zahnd at the time. “For us, Portland is a much more conducive place to do business.” ...

Dozens of tech companies have in recent years fled pricey locales including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle and New York and set up shop in Portland. Some are startups like Cozy; others such as eBay and Salesforce.com are growing substantial outposts in the metro area, hiring hundreds of local employees. There are many more in the pipeline. ...

Portland has the lowest office vacancy rate of any metropolitan area in the nation. ...

The number of tech jobs in Portland between 2011 and 2013 increased 12.6 percent. During roughly the same time period, office rents increased 6.1 percent, according to real estate firm CBRE. ...

Portland is also a relatively affordable city in which to live. According to data compiled by Forbes, Portland’s cost of living is 6.8 percent above the national average. The cost of living in Silicon Valley is 48.2 percent higher. And among the top 25 U.S. metro areas, Portland has the lowest cost of living, according to real estate firm JLL.
...

[dc_denizen]

You're right, actually the only area Portland probably performs poorly is education (universities).

[downtownpdx]

Yeah we lack a major research institution, although OHSU is a highly regarded med school from what I understand; downtown's PSU has recently become the state's largest university by enrollment; and there are several decent/good private schools in the metro like UP( ... sorry to go off topic)

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Yeah we lack a major research institution, although OHSU is a highly regarded med school from what I understand; downtown's PSU has recently become the state's largest university by enrollment; and there are several decent/good private schools in the metro like UP( ... sorry to go off topic)

How many universities are in metro Portland?
And then how many colleges?

[downtownpdx]

This link has 44 colleges and universities in the metro area http://www.matrixbookstore.biz/orcolleges2.htm

And this lists 19 in Portland proper
http://www.free-4u.com/colleges/Port...-Colleges.html

[fflint]

Whereas every large West Coast metro has at least one, Portland is notable in that it lacks a comprehensive powerhouse research university.

USNWR ranks 300 national universities ("which offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master's and Ph.D. programs" and "are committed to producing groundbreaking research"), of which 201 receive a rank and the remaining 99 are listed simply as "Tier 2" with no published rank. No metropolitan Portland university makes this ranking--Portland State University is simply lumped into "Tier 2." There are other kinds of schools, of course, and USNWR ranks them as well.

Among national liberal arts colleges ("which emphasize undergraduate education and award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields of study"), Willamette University ranks #61, Lewis & Clark College and Reed College are tied at #74, and Linfield College comes in at #123.

Among Western regional universities ("which offer a full range of undergrad programs and some master's programs but few doctoral programs"), the University of Portland ranks #8 in the West, Pacific University ranks #20 in the West, and Concordia University ranks #80 in the West.

Among Western regional colleges ("which focus on undergraduate education but grant fewer than half their degrees in liberal arts disciplines."), Corban University ranks #6 in the West, and Warner Pacific College ranks #9 in the West.

The Oregon Health and Science University ranks well in medicine--#3 nationally for primary care, and #29 nationally for research. It also ranks #99 nationally for its graduate engineering program.

So the higher-ranked schools in metropolitan Portland focus on liberal arts and undergraduates, or medicine and graduate engineering--but that leaves something of a void in the middle. Portland State University really needs to up its game and become a better research institution. These smaller regional and liberal arts schools can make a notable impact on smaller communities, but they don't really drive metropolitan economies (unless they are present in proportionally huge numbers as in Boston and Philadelphia).

Since so many Portlanders were actually educated out of the area (expat Californians and Washingtonians, etc.) this doesn't appear to have been a major hindrance to Portland's growth--but it could in the future--and in any case, there's really no downside to having a top reasearch university in your city.

[Shasta]

Reed is rated poorly because they don't play the game. Year after year the school refuses to play the USNWR games.

By the way, how many schools have been busted now for fudging data to the USNWR?

Reed and Lewis + Clark are both very solid liberal arts colleges. Also, U of Portland is a decent Catholic college.