Yet another “best of” list is out and, yes, Asheville snagged a spot in the rankings.
So what’s new? Well, we slipped a bit.
And what’s another ranking worth anyway? Short answer, don’t dismiss it. Taken together, the lists count for something.
In Livability.com’s third-annual list of Top 100 Best Places to Live, Asheville ranks 69 — a precipitous drop from the city’s No. 12 position last year. The only other North Carolina city to make the list was Chapel Hill, which came in at No. 36.
Livability works with communities on ways to market themselves and draws an average of 434,000 visitors to its website monthly.
In compiling the list released this week, Livability.com evaluated some 2,100 cities with populations of 20,000 to 350,000. After analyzing 45 data points, the organization then grouped the data points into eight categories: economics, housing, amenities, infrastructure, demographics, social and civic capital, education and health care.
Those scores were then weighted based on survey responses from residents of each community. Respondents were asked about factors that make their communities better places to live, as well as what factors they would consider when moving to another city.
“As we are doing these things, cities will inevitably shift positions,” said Matt Carmichael, vice president and editor of Livability.com. “If the list is the same 100 cities every year, that’s not very interesting. Beyond that, we are always tweaking our methodology. We will add new data sources as we get them, and we might move one measure from one category to another.”
Rochester, Minnesota, topped the list this year for its schools, civic engagement, health care and its diverse range of affordable housing. Carmichael said many of the cities excelled in education and medical research complexes.
“Having some sort of ‘eds and meds’ presence, like colleges and hospital research centers really helps cities of this size stand out and compete with some of their larger neighbors,” he said. “I often use the boxing metaphor that these cities can punch a little above their weight.”
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said while these types of rankings can be interesting, they do not necessarily have an impact on drafting city policy.
“In terms of city functions and establishing city services or handling city matters, I wouldn’t say that we directly consider any of these rankings. Of course, these rankings do matter in areas like economic development and recruitment of employers,” Manheimer said.
“(Employers) are going to be looking at things like whether their employees are going to be pleased with the education opportunities in Asheville, housing opportunities and quality of life issues.”
Already this year, Asheville has found itself on a number of lists.
In July, Travel and Leisure ranked Asheville the No. 10 in its Best Cities in the U.S. and Canada list. In January, Moviemaker Magazine called Asheville one of the best places to live and work as a filmmaker the same month Popular Mechanics Magazine dubbed Asheville the second-best startup city in America.
“Asheville ranks highly in so many ‘best of’ lists we’ve lost count. They’re great exposure for our community in tourism and business. But it’s not the lists that make our city great, it’s our people,” said Kit Cramer, CEO and president of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.
But sometimes these types of lists can have unintended consequences.
After finding itself on more and more lists, demand has increased along with Asheville’s popularity.
Earlier this year, a 1 percent rental vacancy rate existed in the Asheville metropolitan area, which includes Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties. That figure came from Bowen National Research, a real estate marketing firm that was commissioned by the city to research Asheville’s housing needs.
Asheville lost points in this year’s Livability.com study in the area of housing.
“Affordable housing is absolutely an issue that most of these cities are struggling with, and that’s partially due to them being great places to live. It’s a little bit of a double-edged sword,” Carmichael said. “We’ve seen a lot of these cities can’t keep up with demand and it then becomes less livable for some.”
It is something Manheimer said she has heard in passing after Asheville lands on different lists.
“Sometimes when we’re ranked really well on something, you’ll hear people say ‘I want Asheville to remain a secret.’ But we’re hearing about affordable housing issues not just in Asheville. This is an issue that’s happening nationwide in cities that are popular,” Manheimer said.
Though Asheville saw its rank drop in this year’s Livability study, Carmichael said cities that make this list should still see themselves in a positive light.
“These top 100 cities are all in the top 4-5 percent of the cities that we look at. It’s like getting a 99 percent to a 97 percent. At the end of the day, it’s still an A,” he said.
How we compared from year to year on the Livability study:
2016
Overall rank: No. 69
2015
Overall rank: No. 12
2014
Overall rank: 48
Leave a Reply