Looking to start over?

Those who have lost their jobs, defaulted on their mortgages or are simply searching for a change might want to consider Denver. The city — known for its skiing, culture and bustling singles scene — is where Americans would like to live the most, according to a recent survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based group Pew Research Center.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Americans say they'll stay clear of Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Minn., and Kansas City, Mo.

Behind the numbers
In October, Pew — a nonpartisan research group, funded by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts, that tracks social and demographic trends — conducted a nationwide telephone survey of 2,260 adults.

Researchers listed 30 of the country's largest metropolitan statistical areas and asked, "Would you want to live in this city or its surrounding metropolitan area or not want to live there?" Those surveyed reflect U.S. population in proportion in terms of age, sex and race, and many of the surveys were conducted on cell phones, not land lines, which means a larger swatch of respondents was reached.

While answers varied, one thing was certain: Geographical location and weather play a major role in where we want to settle down. The five top-ranked places were in either the West or South, while the five cities at the bottom of the list are all in the Midwest.

"There is a reason the Sun Belt population continues to increase," says Paul Taylor, head of social and demographic trends and executive vice president at the Pew Research Center. "Weather did play a role in people's choices."

Sunny spots like San Diego and Tampa and Orlando, Fla., did so well because of near year-long mild temperatures (although we're betting few people surveyed took hurricane season into consideration). Indeed, overall perceived attitude of the city was the biggest factor, according to the Pew report: "Seven of the top 10 metropolitan areas are in the West, and the other three — San Antonio, Orlando and Tampa — are Southern cities that share the characteristics of many Western metro areas: warmer weather, a casual lifestyle and rapid growth."

Up north, harsh winters helped Minneapolis to its dismal rank. Despite its fine cultural institutions — including Minnesota Public Radio — and financial dedication to the arts, 82% of those surveyed said that they wouldn't want to live there.

Of course, current economic conditions also play a role. It's no surprise that 90% of those surveyed don't want to live in Detroit, which ranked lowest out of 30 cities. It has a 9.5% unemployment rate and a murder rate 5.16 times higher than the national average.

But just because Americans are straining to pay their bills doesn't necessarily mean they overwhelmingly want to seek better opportunities elsewhere. Just more than half of those surveyed said that they're living in their ideal community, while 46% said that they would rather live in a different place.

Top 5 most popular cities

Denver
San Diego
Seattle
Orlando, Fla.
Tampa, Fla.
Top 5 least popular cities

Detroit
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Minneapolis
Kansas City, Mo.
Click here for more on America’s most and least popular cities on Forbes.com.

By Lauren Sherman, Forbes.com

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=17292982
On this link Tampa's picture is shown in the center right side.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/cities-top-ten-lifestyle-real-estate_0129cities_slide_2.html?partner=msnre
Forbes.com on Tampa

Thats funny Orlando beat us out...obviously these people have never tried to drive there.

I like Orlando well, but as a place to live, I'd never pick theme parks and humid inland climate over bay and beaches......

Orlando overall is a nicer city, only thing we have on them is the bay and beaches.

Central Florida(coast to coast) is the best of Florida.

I agree the whole I-4 corridor is a no brainer..

Tampa Bay is to me also a better choice,3 major Sports teams -Bay-Beaches.. Hosting premier sporting events as well..

Just noticed Tampa is hosting the SEC basketball tournament at the Times Forum ..Mar 12th -15th..

Just this year we have hosted all of these events.

World Series
SEC Tournament
Superbowl
ACC Football tournament
Outback Bowl

If it's any consolation, Orlando scored a higher negative rating than Tampa did. The actual Pew report is here: http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/Community-Satisfaction.pdf

Not one city in the survey had more people say they would like to live there than they would not like to live there. Tampa had a 34% favorable response (tied with Orlando and San Francisco, though presumably if we don't round to whole numbers Orlando was a tiny bit ahead); Tampa also had a 64% unfavorable response (compared to 65% for Orlando and San Francisco).

The survey had thirty total cities, including Riverside, CA, which I find odd, but not including any of the following (in order of metro size): Columbus OH, Indianapolis, Hampton Roads VA, Austin, Providence, Milwaukee, Nashville, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis, or Oklahoma City. Of course if they'd included all of those cities the survey would have taken an hour; as it was it must've been close to a half-hour of phone time (and they actually included cell phone numbers in their random dialing, which is impressive).

The most disconcerting thing in the whole survey is this. Pew asked people to describe where they currently live in one of the following four categories: city, suburb, small town, rural. (This allows for wide variation, since the four categories were not defined except by the respondent; I live in a rural area, but others might call where I live a small town, or even, since it's metropolitan, a suburb.)
More than half of current city residents would rather live in one of the other three categories of places, the only category for which that was true. That concerned me; most city-dwellers wish they could move out of the city? Ouch. This was more true for older folks than younger ones, but still a concern to me.

If you have free time the Pew report linked above is totally worth looking through; they broke things down by age, income, education, race, all sorts of stuff. Fascinating data, even if it does leave out places like Charlotte, Nashville, and Jax.

Come now, we all know that Miami is the best city in Florida! ;)

Come now, we all know that Miami is the best city in Florida! ;)

Miami is a great city and I like it, but I'd still prefer Tampa.....

Come now, we all know that Miami is the best city in Florida! ;)

I like to visit Miami, but I would never move there even if I was paid.

I like Miami a lot. I certainly would not mind living there. If I moved from Tampa it would be in the top of my list to look at moving to.

Steve

I lived in Miami for four years (when I was in college). It was a nice place to go to school, but I definately would not want to live there for the rest of my life. I'll stick with Tampa!

I live in Miami now and have lived here for 7 years. It has lots of cool and neat things but unfortunately I think its negative out weigh its positives. However if you have millions of dollars and are immune from many of the negatives of the city then it would be an awesome place to live. Mainly traffic, shitty business practices, extreme disparity of rich and poor,and the center of the universe syndrome everybody has is the biggest negatives. Its not a bad place to live at for 2-3 years but it gets old really quick. But awesome place to visit especially if you have a lot of cash.

Very well stated ATampaArnold...I agree with your points 100%.

I live in Miami now and have lived here for 7 years. It has lots of cool and neat things but unfortunately I think its negative out weigh its positives. However if you have millions of dollars and are immune from many of the negatives of the city then it would be an awesome place to live. Mainly traffic, shitty business practices, extreme disparity of rich and poor,and the center of the universe syndrome everybody has is the biggest negatives. Its not a bad place to live at for 2-3 years but it gets old really quick. But awesome place to visit especially if you have a lot of cash.

Sounds like pretty much any very large city if you ask me.....transportation could be better though, that is for sure. I think the same could pretty much be said for LA, NY, Houston, etc.

Steve

^^It's a quality of life thing. Having lived in the NYC area for a year, I can see that it is possible to raise a family there, if you have the right mindset. NYC is a lot better on families than some might think. I'm sure some folks may say the same for MIA and LA, too.

At any rate, I love Tampa Bay, and look forward to moving back home in the future. It has a lot more going for it than many people give it credit for, residents included. If it had the same boldness and progressive attitude as even Orlando seems to have, it could be an even better place to live.

^^
It has a lot more going for it than many people give it credit for, residents included. If it had the same boldness and progressive attitude as even Orlando seems to have, it could be an even better place to live.

I agree with you. It seems to that many people of Tampa Bay don't realize what a great place it is. I was living In the area for 3 years and I loved it dearly. I miss it a lot and look forward to visiting again in April/May.

16 years of my life I had no clue Tampa had history, a downtown, let alone nice neighborhood districts like Ybor Hyde Park and Soho.

16 years of my life I had no clue Tampa had history, a downtown, let alone nice neighborhood districts like Ybor Hyde Park and Soho.

And throw in International Mall-Channelside-Seminole Heights-Tampa Heights.:applause::

And throw in International Mall-Channelside-Seminole Heights-Tampa Heights.:applause::

Yup. Lol My whole life until 16 I hated Tampa.

Also add in Harbour Island and Bayshore with that. There's things that we can complain about, but there is a lot that we can be thankful about too. Just that hopefully 20-30 years down the road, we have some of the things we lack.