http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/1/Rank_1.shtml

1 Boise ID
2 Raleigh NC
3 Austin TX
4 Washington DC-Northern VA
5 Albuquerque NM
6 Huntsville AL
7 Fayetteville AR
8 Norfolk VA
9 Atlanta GA
10 Madison WI
11 Lexington KY
12 Phoenix AZ
13 Houston TX
14 Richmond VA
15 Provo UT
16 Ann Arbor MI
17 Knoxville TN
18 Minneapolis-St. Paul MN
19 Dallas TX
20 Fort Worth TX
21 Mercer NJ
22 Tucson AZ
23 Colorado Springs CO
24 Omaha NE
25 San Diego CA
26 Portland OR
27 Orange County CA
28 Des Moines IA
29 Denver CO
30 Monmouth NJ
31 Cincinnati OH
32 Pittsburgh PA
33 Indianapolis IN
34 Albany NY
35 Ventura CA
36 Oklahoma City OK
37 Providence RI
38 Allentown PA
39 Appleton WI
40 Boston MA
41 Hartford CT
42 Charlotte NC
43 Nashville TN
44 Wilmington DE
45 Wichita KS
46 Kansas City MO
47 Charleston SC
48 Little Rock AR
49 Santa Barbara CA
50 San Jose CA
51 Columbus OH
52 Middlesex NJ
53 Salt Lake City UT
54 Sacramento CA
55 Baltimore MD
56 Southern Conn.
57 Reno NV
58 Melbourne FL
59 Oakland CA
60 Philadelphia PA
61 Rochester NY
62 St. Louis MO
63 Long Island NY
64 Johnson City TN
65 Santa Rosa CA
66 Harrisburg PA
67 Hamilton OH
68 Columbia SC
69 Newark NJ
70 Fort Lauderdale FL
71 Newburgh NY
72 West Palm Beach FL
73 Seattle WA
74 Syracuse NY
75 Louisville KY
76 Pensacola FL
77 Tulsa OK
78 Birmingham AL
79 Fort Myers FL
80 Orlando FL
81 San Francisco CA
82 Jacksonville FL
83 Augusta GA
84 Akron OH
85 San Antonio TX
86 Milwaukee WI
87 Chicago IL
88 Las Vegas NV
89 Bergen-Passaic NJ
90 Baton Rouge LA
91 Dayton OH
92 Sarasota FL
93 Jackson MS
94 Lancaster PA
95 Vallejo CA
96 Buffalo NY
97 Greensboro NC
98 Fort Wayne IN
99 Lansing MI
100 Grand Rapids MI
101 Detroit MI
102 Greenville SC
103 Honolulu HI
104 Tampa FL
105 Scranton PA
106 Los Angeles CA
107 Peoria IL
108 York PA
109 Daytona Beach FL
110 New Orleans LA
111 Riverside CA
112 McAllen TX
113 Cleveland OH
114 Spokane WA
115 Reading PA
116 Brownsville TX
117 Salem OR
118 Lafayette LA
119 Memphis TN
120 New York NY
121 Mobile AL
122 Chattanooga TN
123 Tacoma WA
124 Beaumont TX
125 Bakersfield CA
126 Springfield MA
127 Fort Pierce FL
128 Lakeland FL
129 Corpus Christi TX
130 Hickory NC
131 Davenport IA
132 Rockford IL
133 El Paso TX
134 Jersey City NJ
135 Canton OH
136 Kalamazoo MI
137 Gary IN
138 Miami FL
139 Salinas CA
140 Saginaw MI
141 Toledo OH
142 Shreveport LA
143 Flint MI
144 Biloxi MS
145 Fresno CA
146 Atlantic City NJ
147 Youngstown OH
148 Visalia CA
149 Stockton CA
150 Modesto CA


These rankings always get my blood pressure to rise (and not in a good way)--especially when I see that Gary, IN. beat out Miami, or that Newburgh, NY beat out West Palm Beach. I wanna scream, "are you kidding me?" Makes you wonder who compiled their data, and what kind of crack pipe they were inhaling from.

Feel free to look this list over and make your comments accordingly. I've highlighted the cities in New York State for your convenience.

The criteria...

Consumers aren't the only one feeling the pinch at the pump. Energy prices rose 6.6% for businesses last year, along with an 8% jump in taxes. The most expensive state in which to hang your shingle is California, which has 12 of the 20 costliest metro areas in the nation. (Hint: Housing prices had a lot to do with it.) Our seventh annual ranking of Best Places for Business and Careers relies again on Economy.com, the West Chester, Pa. research firm, which helped us weigh business costs (labor, energy, tax and office space expenses) and living costs (housing, transportation, food and other household expenditures). Economy.com also helped assess the education levels of the work force, as well as job and income growth and migration patterns over the past five years. For quality-of-life issues we examined crime rates and used a culture-and-leisure index developed by Bertrand Sperling, a consultant in Portland, Ore. who keeps track of museums, theaters, golf courses, sports teams and the like.

i would've liked to see wilmington higher up on the list (currently #44). with a low cost of living and higher-paying salaries, people in the area can afford to buy more stuff.

Come on, this list isn't good for anything besides selling magazines. It's so arbitrary. Top 150 cities? That's just stupid.

Come on, this list isn't good for anything besides selling magazines. It's so arbitrary. Top 150 cities? That's just stupid.

Its their list of Best places for Businesses and Careers

I happen to agree with the first twenty cities (1-20), and believe them to be right on--after that though--it gets a bit dicey for me, or at the very least--hard to believe or accept.

4 of the top 20 are in Texas. There's no way it has anything to do with that states last Governor being the current President for the past 5 years. :sly:

My fav cities didn't fare too bad on the list, although certainly could be better:

Rochester, 61st
Buffalo, 96th,
Detroit, 101st
New York, 120th

Hey, Albany, 31st, way to go Albany! I plan to visit you sometime in the summer! But the criteria this list uses depends, though. It can change and sometimes be inaccurate. Syracuse 74th, not bad either!

Best places for careers, and NYC is 120th while Boise is 1st? Um, ok...

Another list, another exercise in inanity.

4 of the top 20 are in Texas. There's no way it has anything to do with that states last Governor being the current President for the past 5 years. :sly:

Well, if you take a hard look at the business environment in Texas, the rapid population growth, the tech industry explosion in Austin, etc., it's really not that difficult to believe that 4 of their cities made it into the Top 20.

very interesting list, indeed........... :sly:

Since when is Long Island a city? Did I miss that announcement?

Newark above Seattle LoLoLoLoLoL....... their kidding of course. :bash:

i think everyone who is complaining should probably fully read the criteria and way in which they came to these results...

its not what city is 'best' it is about what city is 'best' for certain situations and interests...such as a career or starting a business

Wilmington's crime rate is dangerously high. That's what knocked it off.

Based on the cities I am familiar with, this list must have been created by lottery. What a crock.