The annual poll done by the experts at 24 /7 Wall Street.com of America’s Best Cities to Live for 2017 has been completed and with its low poverty rate combined with its extremely highly educated general population, among many other factors have placed Raleigh in the Top 10 of America’s Best Cities to Live In.
To determine America’s 50 best cities to live in, 24/7 Wall St. considered roughly 590 cities the U.S. Census Bureau reported as having populations of more than 65,000 in 2016. Only the top performing city in each county was considered in our ranking. Data were collected in nine major categories: crime, demography, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure.
Within each category, specific measures contributed to a city’s overall category score. For example, the economy category included median household income adjusted for cost of living, the ratio between a city’s and its state’s median household income, poverty and unemployment rates, as well as a city’s three-year employment growth. Each measure was adjusted to range from 0 to 1 using min-max normalization, with lower scores indicating better outcomes.
In the blog post at the official 24/7 Wall Street website, they went on to specifically detail Raleigh’s lofty inclusion to the prestigious rankings, saying, “Raleigh is one of many fast-growing mid-size cities in North Carolina. Over the past 10 years, the population of Raleigh increased by 29.6%, the most of any city in the state other than neighboring Cary, and far more than the 7.1% national population growth rate.”
Concluding the explanation for their placing Raleigh as number 10 among all on America’s Best Cities to Live the article explained, “Raleigh is located in the southeastern corner of the Research Triangle, a prospering area with three leading research universities and many high-tech companies. Raleigh itself is home to North Carolina State University and is a 30-minute drive from Duke University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. North Carolina has one of the largest brain gains – more college graduates are staying in the state than leaving – in the country. This has contributed to high educational attainment in cities across the state. In Raleigh, 50.8% of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, far more than the 31.3% national share.”
To see more details on how they arrive at their rankings, as well as the complete listing of the Top 50 Best Cities to Live, visit 247wallst.com.
