Valley climbs 22 spots on list of best metro areas

The Youngstown-Warren region did well in its transportation system and its low cost of living.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — It’s doubtful anyone in the Youngstown-Warren metropolitan area is going to get out a foam hand and brag that a new book ranks the region as the 269th best place to live out of 373 areas.

That would be quite a lot of fingers.

“Cities Ranked & Rated,” a recently released book by Wiley Publishing Inc., ranks areas based on numerous variables related to economy, cost of living, climate, education, health and health care, crime, transportation, leisure and arts and culture.

While being ranked 269th is hardly a reason to party, it is progress for the area that includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania.

The last “Cities Ranked & Rated” book in 2004 had the area in 291st place.

“We made it up in the ranks, so we must be doing something right,” said Jason Logero, born and reared in Campbell. “Anything positive for this area is a good thing.”

To compile the list, the book’s authors used data sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Climate Data Center, the Department of Education, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Claritas Inc., a private market data services provider.

Drawbacks

Despite offering praise for the area’s entertainment and recreation offerings, Pat Ungar of Boardman said, “It surprises me that [the ranking] is that high.” Ungar pointed to the crime rate and poor weather as the area’s two biggest drawbacks. He was born in Youngstown and moved back to this area a few years ago after living in South Carolina.

The Youngstown-Warren region’s best category is transportation, at 47th.

It scored above the national average in shorter average commute time to and from work, less expensive gas and vehicle insurance premiums, and picked up points for being close to major airports.

Though the area’s property and sales tax rates are higher than the national average, the area’s cost of living index, median home price and median rent are well below the national average. That resulted in the region’s being listed as 104th in the nation in cost of living.

Aron Mason, a Youngstown State University student originally from Cincinnati, said he knows firsthand how inexpensive the cost of living is here.

Mason is paying $200 a month rent for a Youngstown apartment. An equivalent apartment in Cincinnati, he said, would cost him about $800 a month. In the cost of living category, Cincinnati is ranked 349th by the book.

“The cost of living [here] is cheap,” Mason said. “But the area needs newer buildings and things to attract more people from other places.”

The area is among the worst in the United States in income, 354th, because of high unemployment, negative job growth, and low per capita and household incomes, according to the book.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said he’s not concerned with lists that compare this region to other areas.

“One list comes out and says we’re at one place, and other say we’re somewhere else,” he said. “The lists are relative to those who compile them. We don’t gauge our success on ratings. But I’m glad to see whatever it’s worth that we’re moving up.”

Climate category

The area did poorly in climate, 353rd. That category includes temperatures for January and July, precipitation, cloud cover, humidity and weather-related health hazards. That figure is worse than for Cleveland and Akron.

“The area has the highest cloudiness, days of precipitation, and total annual snowfall in the state,” according to the book.

Despite other surveys stating Youngstown has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country, this book states the region’s violent crime rate is lower than the national average. But the area saw a 28 percent increase in the violent crime rate since 2004 compared with a 2.2 percent decrease nationwide, the book states.

“This area needs to take care of the crime rate,” Ungar said.

In the leisure section, the area lost points because there are only three Starbucks Coffee locations in the area compared with the national average of 13 for a region.

In the comments section, the book reads: “Today [Youngstown] struggles with some success to diversify [from steel] into automobile assembly and other manufacturing mixed with a wide range of small businesses.”

The book mentions the Youngstown Business Incubator as helping to aid that effort and the city also benefits from Youngstown State University.

Other sites

As for Warren, it “has an industrial character but with a bit of historic charm.”

Boardman “is an unremarkable middle-class suburb,” the book reads.

Sharon, Pa., is “another struggling and small post-industrial city just across the Pennsylvania border.”

Overall, the book describes the area as “down but not out; its strategic location and a successful economic turnaround may prove the area to be a good value, but it’s a long path out of the woods.”

The book is designed for those looking to find the best places to live — Gainesville, Fla., tops the list — or those who want to know how their hometown matches up to other areas.

There are numerous metropolitan areas that were ahead of Youngstown-Warren on the 2004 list that are now behind the region in 2007.

Among them are Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor; Akron; Mansfield; Rochester, N.Y.; Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Tacoma, Wash.; Yakima, Wash.; Muncie, Ind.; Memphis, Tenn.; Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Green Bay, Wis.; Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.; and Rockford, Ill.

skolnick@vindy.com