What's Your Perfect Hometown?
August 15, 2006 3:51 AM   Subscribe

Lists of the best places in the United States assume their expert can choose the absolute best place to live, or to work, or to raise a family—for everyone. Wouldn't a better way to find great places to live in America be based on your unique priorities and preferences?
posted by CodeBaloo (42 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
If unique, wouldn't that be a town of one? I'd love to live in a truly small town myself, say Chloride, AZ
posted by A189Nut at 4:24 AM on August 15, 2006


Where I live is already a great place based on my priorities and preferences.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:38 AM on August 15, 2006


Wouldn't a better way to find great places to live in America be based on your unique priorities and preferences?

Well, sure, but how do you evaluate the place's "personality" without gauging how others rate it for a range of characteristics. Most of these surveys include criteria by which the residence seeker can suss out the closest fit. These offer a lower risk way of finding a fit than, say, moving every 3 months.
posted by klangklangston at 4:38 AM on August 15, 2006


"Wouldn't a better way to find great places to live in America be based on your unique priorities and preferences?"

You'd think so. But if we did that, then all lists that all the major media outlets cook up every few months of the 'Best Things' would pretty much become useless. Then the people would start thinking for themselves and the things they like, rather than saying to friends at work "Oh, did you read that Rolling Stone Magazine thought [insert latest pop sensation here]'s new album was the best album of the last ten years. We should buy that!"

And once people start thinking for themselves and forming their own preferences, what happens next? Anarchy, I tells ya! Anarchy!
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:40 AM on August 15, 2006 [1 favorite]


Aaaargh! If I go to another site that wants a bunch of personal information after I spend five minutes answering a large survey....
posted by Mr Stickfigure at 4:45 AM on August 15, 2006


Mr. Stickfigure -- As you may already have found out, but it's not a "we'll email the results" kinda thing, so everything can be fake. Then, just click "Next" past the following screen to get your results.
posted by CodeBaloo at 4:51 AM on August 15, 2006


it's not a "we'll email the results" kinda thing, so everything can be fake. And even if it were, you could use spamgourmet.com to get the one email you need and no other.
posted by QuietDesperation at 4:59 AM on August 15, 2006


Interesting, Where I live and where I went to college are both in my 'perfect hometown' list. I guess I can stop looking.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 5:02 AM on August 15, 2006


One thing these lists seem to downplay is cost of living. I know many people who would jump at the chance to live in Seattle, Portland or Denver - if their salaries were doubled to account for the high cost of housing.

Twenty years ago, before the real estate bubble made much of the country unaffordable to the middle class, it was easy for someone to point on a map, say they want to live there, and move. Now, our choices are far more limited.
posted by elmwood at 6:10 AM on August 15, 2006 [1 favorite]


On the CNN site I used their little "Find your best place" thingy and the city I live in already came up #7. I guess that's a good thing?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:48 AM on August 15, 2006


My results from findyourspot were laughably bad. El Paso? You've got to be kidding.
posted by adamrice at 7:09 AM on August 15, 2006


Yeah, findyourspot was a little weird. Branson? Mount Airy?

Maybe I oughta change my name to mr_andy_griffith.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:21 AM on August 15, 2006


Who knew New Jersey was so safe?
posted by echo0720 at 7:45 AM on August 15, 2006


I did all that and then they want all of my personal information just to tell me where I might find comfortable to live? As long as the answer is neither Buffalo or Roosevelt Island, I'll be happy anywhere.
posted by parmanparman at 8:00 AM on August 15, 2006


Little Rock, AK? I don't think so.
posted by octothorpe at 8:12 AM on August 15, 2006


Myspot is a really crap site. I've come across it before and it rarely offers me anywhere I'd like to live.
posted by rhymer at 8:14 AM on August 15, 2006


#1 = Honolulu

Yeah, that sounds about right.
posted by milarepa at 8:21 AM on August 15, 2006


Me, too, milarepa...then it went down hill from there.
posted by mapalm at 8:39 AM on August 15, 2006


One thing these lists seem to downplay is cost of living. I know many people who would jump at the chance to live in Seattle, Portland or Denver - if their salaries were doubled to account for the high cost of housing.

Apparently my desire for a home in the $150,000 range was at odds with my desire for a mid-size town with abundant local culture, mild summers, and kick-ass mountain biking because my "perfect" spots all featured homes in the $650,000 to $850,000 range. Maybe my husband and I should become domestic servants?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:56 AM on August 15, 2006


My top spot on FindYourSpot is listed as Danbury, CT. My list had a lot of places in Connecticut and Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Of course, I'm insane enough to admit that I love snowy winters, so .....

The registration hoops that you have to go through on FindYourSpot are more than mildly irritating.
posted by blucevalo at 9:06 AM on August 15, 2006


I've read a few lists like this, and they all seem to have one thing in common: the "best places to live" are all wealthy communities with expensive real estate and high property taxes. (Case in point: Scottsdale, AZ, where I'm at work right now.) This might seem to suggest that only the wealthy can afford good neighborhoods. But in the end, doesn't wealth make life better anywhere you live?

Not that I will ever know.
posted by bshock at 9:08 AM on August 15, 2006


The #1 finalist in California is Folsom. HAH. Lets assume they don't mean the famous prison.
posted by afx114 at 9:10 AM on August 15, 2006


My hometown is #6. Sweet.
posted by gramcracker at 9:16 AM on August 15, 2006


bshock, you hit the nail on the head.
posted by blucevalo at 9:27 AM on August 15, 2006


Antarctica ! ! ! ???? WTF? *Antarctica* ???

Just kidding, it chose Portland, which is interesting because I've been thinking about moving there for some time now.
posted by mk1gti at 9:29 AM on August 15, 2006


If unique, wouldn't that be a town of one? I'd love to live in a truly small town myself, say Chloride, AZ

I'll be honest, I (somewhat accidently) drove through Chloride a few months ago, and I don't know that I'd want to live there. According to the sign up front, as of mid-May they had a population of 352. (I could post a pic of the sign entering town, if someone has somewhere on the interwebs to store it.)
posted by inigo2 at 9:53 AM on August 15, 2006


That site sucks. I live where I want to live most and that's not even on my list. But places I've lived and hated are. I hate that site so much; I hate it out of proportion to it's wrongness. But man it sucks.
posted by dame at 10:00 AM on August 15, 2006


Yes, this site is horrible. So why is it linked to on the front page of Mefi? Hmm...
posted by prostyle at 10:17 AM on August 15, 2006


Little Rock, Arkansas is #1!
Odd, i don't remember a choice for blue state vs. red state. Strongly disagree!!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 10:43 AM on August 15, 2006


I think it puts too much emphasis on the weather. I mean, I answered the questions honestly; it's just that I don't care about the weather quite so much.

And I like being in small towns, but not dinky towns.

Also, Little Rock, AK is clearly paying to get on everyone's top lists.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:44 AM on August 15, 2006


None of the Winners on Cnn/Money are on the west coast.
posted by whimsicalnymph at 10:49 AM on August 15, 2006


That's because nobody making under $80,000 a year (or $160,000 a year if you are in Santa Barbara County) can afford to buy a house on the West Coast anymore.
posted by blucevalo at 11:15 AM on August 15, 2006


Aw, c'mon! I crap bigger than Boise, Idaho.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:26 AM on August 15, 2006


I love where I live, but somehow it's not given as a recommendation. Odd, that.

So, yeah, not impressed.
posted by reallymadcow at 11:59 AM on August 15, 2006


I have to be suspicious of any site that uses a graphic like this:

And my #1 recomended place to live is: MILWAUKIE, OREGON "City of Dogwoods". Woof.
#2: TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO (Where on the survey did I mention I liked game shows?)

The place I have chosen to currently reside is about halfway down the list of 24 (but I did give them a partially accurate address, so they already knew that), and there's one glaring inaccuracy on the listing, where they've hyphenated it in with a couple neighboring cities that should show about double the population it does. Not a bad way to waste a half-hour on the internet, but I'm just glad I had the time to waste.
posted by wendell at 1:46 PM on August 15, 2006


Alexandria, Louisiana - a miserable town I spent 14 years of my life trying to escape with eventual success - ended up in my top 5. That is completely frightening.

Oh, and Little Rock was my number 1 as well. What a weird site.
posted by General Zubon at 2:57 PM on August 15, 2006


FindYourSpot suggested Anchorage, AK for me... weird. The remaining results were reasonable, though: lots of cities in Colorado (where I currently live) and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains, the Upper Midwest (where I used to live, and am still quite fond of), and the Pacific Northwest (who can complain?).

I live in the mess of sprawl between Boulder and Fort Collins, and I have to say that the latter is indeed a pretty nice town. On the other hand, you couldn't pay me to live in Boulder proper. Liberal paradise or not, it's an exceedingly frustrating place.
posted by jal0021 at 3:15 PM on August 15, 2006


Funny, the best place for me is where I just moved to.

Viva Las Vegas, bitches.
posted by daq at 3:44 PM on August 15, 2006


It told me that I should live about 35 miles away from here. Not bad, not bad at all.
posted by jessamyn at 4:09 PM on August 15, 2006


I like how Manhattan is listed separately than New York City. And I'm not sure why Chicago, where I actually live, was left off the list — maybe it was my "feed all politicians to the sharks" answers. But that's why I like living in the last great bastion of Democratic machine politics, I can have my deep-seated burning hatred for politics and its adherents dramatically validated every fucking day. Clearly FindYourSpot.com has much to learn about human nature.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:18 PM on August 15, 2006


from, damn it
posted by IshmaelGraves at 5:18 PM on August 15, 2006


They need a "Live [near] or [far] from Keswick" option.
posted by nlindstrom at 2:53 PM on August 16, 2006


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