When it comes to national rankings, Albuquerque has a spotty record. For every positive ranking, the city often finds itself on the negative end of one or more lists.
But the Duke City can breathe a sigh of relief. U.S. News & World Report released its Best Places to Live Ranking on Wednesday morning and Albuquerque did surprisingly well (depending on your point of view), coming in 41st out of 100.
Ranking metropolitan areas based on affordability, job prospects and quality of life, the U.S. News gave top honors to Denver, followed by Austin, Texas, and Fayetteville, Arkansas. Nabbing the lowest spots on the lists were Modesto, California, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Neighboring Arizona landed two cities on the list – Phoenix (48) and Tucson (73). In addition to Denver, Colorado also was represented by Colorado Springs (5). Texas had six cities make the list – Austin (2), Houston (17), Dallas (21), San Antonio (23), El Paso (71), and McAllen (89). Albuquerque is sandwiched between two Florida metropolitan areas – Palm Bay-Melbourne and Tampa. On U.S. News’ scorecard, Albuquerque scored 6.6 out of 10, with desirability and value earning high marks.
View the entire list on U.S. News & World Report’s site.
In a press release, Miriam Weiner, product manager for real estate at U.S. News, had this to say about the rankings: “The Best Places to Live ranking accounts for the most important concerns people have about where to live, such as cost of living, employment opportunities and access to good schools. Top-ranked areas not only have steady job markets, but they also have attributes that contribute to a high quality of life – affordability, low crime rates, shorter commute times and quality health care.”
According to U.S. News, roughly two-thirds of the country’s population lives within one of the metropolitan areas on the list. The list also was determined in part by a public survey and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the F.B.I. and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
By: Christopher Ortiz (Albuquerque Business First)
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