Top Ten Lists - Again

Every once and a while I take a few minutes and peruse the top ten list of this and that. They are always interesting. Mostly because of the compilers themselves (What were they thinking?) than the list itself. Best places to live, cities with the best grade schools, and those that have the best chain restaurants are fun to read but I can assure you that no one will move just to be on one of these lists. But, it does give a resident of “The best college town in America,” some self-satisfaction knowing someone out there validates their choice.

So here are few to ponder:

America’s Most and Least Expensive College Towns  (CLICK HERE)

I was not surprised that Berkeley Cal was number one. No one can afford to live in the Bay Area. But why Stanford isn’t on the elite list leaves one to wonder about the list's authenticity, housing in Palo Alto is totally insane. The least expensive is Muncie, Indiana. Yes, Muncie. I’m going to Google Earth and find it, I do remember the name from my youth.

America’s Most and Least Expensive Affordable Areas to Raise A Family. (CLICK HERE)

This is an in depth article about living costs in American cities. Interesting for data geeks. But I was shocked to see that New York was listed as the most expensive, shocked I say. What this does show is that where you live does matter. California needs to work on getting to the top of this list.

Here’s a list of the Top 25 Private Home Building Companies. (CLICK HERE)

Where are the healthiest housing markets? (CLICK HERE)

According to this list and the article, out of the top fifteen, seven are in Texas, four in Colorado, and only two in California—the Bay Area to be exact. What is more interesting is the Affordability Rank—why anyone would think of moving to California is beyond me. But for those of us here, have pity, we feel trapped in a gilded prison of drought and Coppertone.

Outside magazine took a pole of its readers and came up with The 16 Best Places to Live in America – 2015. (CLICK HERE)

The list certainly grabs your attention from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Lake Placid, New York. Note: there are no California cities listed – just saying.

And one last fun one:

California finally tops the list, The 10 Most Polluted Cities in America. (CLICK HERE)

In California’s defense, the Fresno-Madera, Ca. region sits in a bowl and with agriculture dominating the economy you get dust and all the usual mix of agricultural byproducts. The rest of America must have its veggies.

Stay Tuned . . . . . . . .