City ranks 29th in Kiplinger's 50-best listing
Kiplinger's June edition ranked Morgantown 29th among U.S. cities in its survey, "50 Smart Places to Live."
Last week, Inc., an online entrepreneurial Web site, rated Morgantown 15th in "Overall Best Cities" among cities with metro populations under 150,000 in its May publication, "Boomtowns '06."
In addition, Forbes magazine recently ranked Morgantown the 5th "Best Small Metro" out of 179 comparable U.S. cities.
What sets Kiplinger's survey apart from the others is that it considered the entire pool of U.S. cities and was not classified by population size.
"This is important, because it shows we're becoming what we've set out to become — to be a place where quality of life is top priority," said Ron Justice, Morgantown mayor. "Most of these other cities have far greater populations. I think this is just another sign that we have a high level of cooperation between government, businesses and other entities that make our city work."
Nashville, Tenn., topped the list.
To arrive at the final list of cities, Kiplinger's surveyed its readers to see what factors they considered most important when choosing a place to live. The top two were cost of living and cost of housing. Quality health care and a low crime rate were also among the most important requirements.
The magazine then asked Bert Sperling, co-author of Cities Ranked & Rated and host of BestPlaces.net, to design a database to consider these factors. Other key criteria were weather, education (primary, secondary and higher), cultural amenities and transportation.
Kiplinger's also factored in economic vitality, giving points to "well-diversified economies that are good places to start or expand businesses." In addition, the magazine looked at the variety of cultural and recreational activities available.
Kiplinger's found that Morgantown experienced a 3.9-percent population growth in the past year and has a median home price of $141,900.
Morgantown's "Metropolitan Statistical Area" population was listed at 115,519. Of all 50 cities listed, only four had smaller populations.
"The geographical area that creates our MSA is all of Monongalia and Preston counties," said Chris Fletcher, Morgantown city planner. "Basically, an MSA begins with one urbanized area with a population of 50,000 or more. Then, the U.S. Census identifies populations near that area that are socially and economically integrated."
Published by Kiplinger Washington Editors, the monthly personal finance magazine covers topics like investment, retirement, taxes and real estate.