CITIES

CITIES

From first to worst

“Cities Ranked & Rated,” a new book, ranks 373 metropolitan areas in the order of the best places to live. The ranking is based on various criteria. The Youngstown-Warren metropolitan area is ranked 269th. Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 2007 rankings with the previous ranking from 2004.*

The Top Ten

2007 Rank Metro area 2004 Rank

1 Gainesville, Fla. 56 2 BellIingham, Wash. 38 3 Portland-Vancouver- 12
Beaverton, Ore.-Wash. 4 Colorado Springs, Colo. 18

5 Ann Arbor, Mich. 6

6 Ogden-Clearfield, Utah 84

7 Asheville, N.C. 8

8 Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo. 128

9 San Luis Obispo, Calif. 3

10 Boise City-Nampa, Idaho 68

The bottom 10

363 Sumter, S.C. 274

364 Anniston-Oxford, Ala. 323

365 El Centro, Calif. N/A

366 Alexandria, La. 321

367 Lafayette, La. 297

368 Farmington, N.M. N/A

369 Monroe, La. 247

370 Merced, Calif. 328

371 Yuba City, Calif. 315

372 Visalia-Porterville, Calif. 211

373 Modesto, Calif. 316

* The complete list is available at Vindy.com

Source: “Cities Ranked & Rated”