Rating: 
Summary: Great resource for moving
Review: I'm in the process of moving out-of-state and I came across this book--and I have to say it's amazing. It had so much about the city I'm moving to that it actually helped me feel less stressed about the whole move. I've already recommended it to all my friends who are moving or thinking of moving and they all have said that it was very helpful. Next time I change cities, I'll definitely look up this book again.
Rating: 
Summary: Great resource
Review: Ignore the previous two reviews, not sure what these guys were up to or why. They went to deep dark corners to unearth "errors". Some may be true but some of their assertions, like no published cost of living data by city, are just plain wrong. I know -- I am a professional market researcher. For 17 bucks, this book makes a handy reference for my profession and is a top resource if I ever decide to move. Authors have done a good job assembling otherwise hard-to-get information in a nice package.
Rating: 
Summary: Cities Ranked and Rated
Review: Please don't use this book if you are looking for a place to relocate, you might end up in Cleveland, OH. As a resident of the Cleveland area I found many discrepancies in the book. Some of the information such as the condition of the city and the best residental areas appears to be from five to twenty years out of sync. I looked at several other cities around the country which I am familar, same problem. My book is on the way back.
Rating: 
Summary: Mistakes and suspect data ruin this tome
Review: Sorry, I have to dissent from positive ratings this book has been receiving. It has many errors, missourced or old data, and more than a few flatulent statements. Let's mention a few. Early in the book the authors place Pine Bluff in Arizona (though later they move it to its correct location in Arkansas). A table (p.60) detailing population growth since 1990 shows Phoenix gaining over 2 million people, Atlanta gaining nearly 3 million, and Orlando gaining over 1 million. These may be typos, but they are astronomically incorrect. The book depends too much on the 2000 Census of Population. Aside from using stale four-year old figures, one might say the book strays from rating the quality of cities to rating the quality of people living in them. Just an observation. Moving on, consider this outrageous statement (p. 112): The number of Starbucks in a city "is indicative of the overall quality of retail establishments." Say again? Starbucks is a service establishment, not a retailer. A Starbucks indicates the presence of a 25 to 50 demographic that buys a $3.00 latte grande. It says little about the quality of retailers in the city. Here's another statement: One of Louisville, Kentucky's black marks is "low public-school utilization," (p. 462) based entirely on how many children were in private schools in 2000. Shall we permit the authors to withdraw that remark? First, San Francisco, New Orleans, and even Dubuque are shown in the book to have greater proportions of children in private schools -- yet these cities don't receive similar criticism. Second, so what? For families on the move, shouldn't there be alternatives to public schools if they're wanted? Amazingly, Boulder, Colorado (with employers like the University of Colorado, Hewlett-Packard, and the National Bureau of Standards) received the worst ranking for ECONOMY & JOBS, while locations like Billings, Montana, and Elkhart, Indiana, received top rankings based on employment figures nearly a year old (August 2003). Lastly, I can tell you, CATEGORICALLY, that the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not produce cost-of-living figures for each city, in spite of the book's claims that BLS is the source for these data. Are the figures in the book a fabrication or is this simply an incorrect source? Perhaps a second edition is planned. Let's hope so.
Rating:
Summary: Cities Rated and Ranked by Sperling
Review: The authors rate and rank cities according to multiple criteria.
These criteria consist of the local economy, jobs, unemployment,
climate, the education system, health care infrastructure and
a host of qualitative criteria too numerous to list here.
No book on quality of life will supplant your personal verification . If you plan to move anywhere, you should visit
the location, talk to people and get a sense of your comfort
zone before making a final decision on calling a place "home".
Optimal cities with low unemployment include Sioux Falls, SD;
Dutchess County, NY; Billings, Mt. ; Stanford , Ct; Gainesville,
Illinois; and Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Strong economic activity is cited in Billings, Montana;
Anchorage, Alaska and Glenn Falls, New York. Regions with
superior transportation systems are San Francisco, Ca.,
New York and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
This work has a wealth of information. It should be supplemented
with current Census data and onsite visits prior to making
a decision to relocate. A book like this is most helpful if you
are totally unfamiliar with a particular locale and you need
a starting point for comparison purposes. The presentation
is clear and organized well. Keep in mind that nothing takes the
place of an onsite visit and face-to-face talks with local
residents, business-owners and private entrepreneurs.
This work is a good value provided that it is supplemented with
the aforementioned steps listed above.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting facts
Review: there are so many interesting facts in this book. i bought this book for my sister but it was so good i bought one for myself too. i really like to read this book all the time.
Rating:
Summary: the Ultimate Resource!
Review: This has got to be the ultimate resource for information on the United States. I've never been so engrossed by non-fiction book. . . I've learned so much already. I really feel informed and aware about our country now and this makes me feel happy and proud. I find myself turning to this book every day to answer a trivia question or settle a debate with a friend . . . it's as useful as a dicitonary. This one's staying on my coffee table for years!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing resource
Review: This is the most interesting reference book I've ever read. I can't believe the depth and breadth of information included. Sports teams, details on activities and climate, detailed graphs for every U.S. city... every time i pick up this book I learn new factoids. I didn't even know this information exists. Wow.
Rating:
Summary: READER BEWARE: Not For The Average American
Review: Today I read a USA Today article about "Cities Ranked and Rated" and looked at the top ten list. Sadly enough, this book is heavily biased towards the left. Ironically, most of these top ten cities lists are. I am set to graduate the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor the 6th ranked city in the book. I am so sorry to say that Ann Arbor is one of the worst cities to live in. The author bases the rankings off of three categories; cost of living, climate and quality of life. With this criteria, Ann Arbor should come in dead last. Rents are through the roof here at pretty much an average of 900-1100 a month for a two bedroom apartment. Furthermore, many items in stores here are more expensive than elsewhere. Ann Arbor literally and figuratively has a dark cloud over it everyday, and it snows a lot. The climate here makes it depressing. As for quality of life, those only reflect whether or not the city follows liberal party doctrine, as in whether or not it combats urban sprawl and other such nonsense issues.
Lastly, Ann Arbor has way too many pompous idiots. No one here has any manners, and getting a hello or good morning from anyone on the street is next to impossible. The attitude of the campus and city is extremely pretentious. Most people I know think I'm intelligent, but in this town, I am constantly ridiculed for thinking rationally and conservatively. Taking that last issue into account, most people in Ann Arbor have irrational, abstract, out-of-touch attitudes towards life. Students who go to school and work with you have a nasty habit of walking by without acknowledging you. Ann Arborites love to claim their city is diverse, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The ideals of this city are wonderful but so absolutely hypocritical and unpracticed. Anyone from a friendly town with an objective, ie. sane outlook on life will hate Ann Arbor. Judging by the author's selection of other cities, all strikingly mirror each other. Lastly, do you hate the United States of A? If you said yes, you'll love Ann Arbor.
My conclusion is to stay away from this book; this is not worth the average American's time. After 4 years in this book's #6 city, I have no idea why the author loves this dreadful wreck of a Prozac-swilling city. Don't be misled.
Rating:
Summary: Good efforts but bad ranking
Review: WOULD BE USEFUL IF MORE ACCURATE! ZIPCODE SEARCH Feature is excellent IF INFORMATION were ACCURATE!
I lived in several places for relatively long period of time: San Francisco--6 years and Minnesota 3 years. However, I found the stat inaccurate. For example, the area that I live (Richmond disctrict) is one of the safer areas in the city in contrast to the bayview/bayshore area (which has lots of happenings and many shootings over the past years and news reported that cops were reluctant to petrol those areas). While the zipcode search reflects that the safer district has as many violent crimes and murders as the relatively known dangerous areas. This is something that needed to be worked on further. I am sure the book like this kind is useful but accuracy information counts!
| 
