(Another) Top Ten/Hundred

I wonder how many people actually use Money Magazine’s list of the top cities when they decide where to live?  What always surprises me is the fact that every time such a list is published, it’s a DIFFERENT set of cities than the last time.  This year’s winner was Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  (I ask myself what it’s like in the middle of winter.)

I thought I had read recently that Arlington, VA, was the top-rated spot for raising a family.  And yet the only local city listed in the new top ten list is Columbia/Ellicott City, MD.

Granted you can look at statistics -- crime, student test scores, temperature extremes -- but it’s still very subjective, especially when you consider how many cities there are in the US.

I actually love where I live.  I don’t even live in a city, but rather I live in a very diverse Northern Virginia county.  I can find most every kind of ethnic food within a few miles of my house.  I can be in downtown DC in 15 minutes.  I can be on a major bike path in 5 minutes.

Sometimes I wish I could walk to everything I need like the people on Capitol Hill can. Sometimes I wish I could make better use of public transportation.

But we have neighborhood friends who have lived here for 30+ years as we have and we are all accustomed to the quirks of the area.  We can easily afford to live in our house, which cost $80K in 1977.

The bottom line for me is it would take a lot more than a survey of top cities to entice me to move.