‘Best places’ lists land all over the map

Meanwhile, Relocate-America.com, which has been publishing best-places lists for 11 years, accepted “great place” suggestions from its Web visitors. Nominees were judged on education data, environmental policies, economic opportunity, parks and recreation choices and real estate options. (Charlotte, N.C., was the Web site’s No. 1).

But Bert Sperling, the man credited as the father of the best-places concept, said he had to scratch his head at Relocate-America’s populist approach. The author of “Cities Ranked & Rated” and an adviser to Money, Forbes and Fortune Small Business on their lists, Sperling argued that some publications or Web sites give too much weight to niche factors when critiquing the overall picture of a metro area.

“It is the choice of the information [that’s sometimes off]. Maybe a magazine will focus on one small thing and then they’ll say, if this thing is good, it means this place is good,” Sperling said, adding that in some cases they’re missing the big picture.

Readers of any best-places list should look for four things to ensure the material is valid, Sperling said. Does the magazine describe how it generated its rankings, and reveal the criteria it used? Do the editors explain which benchmarks were deemed most important? Do they provide a full list of the cities appraised or just a cursory top 10? Do they divulge where and when they got their data?

Of course, it’s not just a magazine’s credibility that’s at stake. To many cities, these best-place roundups are invaluable — or harmful.

No. 200 slap stings
Raleigh, N.C., grabbed the top rung on the Forbes list in 2007 and 2008. The city has nine new hotels opening this year and a new convention center that begins operations in September.

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“When you get those accolades, you can’t buy that kind of business,” said Dennis Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s [now] part of our presentation when we’re pitching conventions. And it’s part of our family and leisure business, too, so we’ll take those accolades and speak to them in our electronic communication, print and radio ads.”

At the bottom of Forbes magazine’s best places for business and careers lists in 2007 and 2008 is Salinas, Calif., which was listed in the 200th and last spot both years. The city scored low in job growth and the cost of doing business.

“This strikes me as a statistical anomaly,” said Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue, who pointed out that Salinas is 20 minutes from Monterey and near the heart of Silicon Valley. “We have real opportunities. In this case, I view the rating as uniformed and a more [data-driven] formula than anything.”

At the same time, Donohue acknowledged that while the No. 200 slap stings a bit, it also can serve as a rallying cry.

“My mantra is peace, prosperity and image. So I fully understand that image is critical,” Donohue said. “I’m under no illusion. We have real challenges. This allows me to say: ‘Hey, look, we’ve got to compete for business, and this is where we’ve got to come from.’”

But take heart, Salinas. With the boom of best-places lists — and the widely varying selection styles — your city could wind up at the peak of another tally before long. In fact, Salinas already is considered the No. 21 greenest city by Country Home magazine. There also are publications and programs that rank cities for innovation (Fast Company), friendliness (NBC’s TODAY Show), and for retaining Old West culture (American Cowboy Magazine).

Why is America suddenly thick with a bumper crop of alleged best places? It’s pure marketing fueled by a good dash of old-fashioned hometown pride. The lists sell magazines and lure Web site visitors. Fortune Small Business counted 9 million visitors to its online best-places list in April. That’s more traffic than the magazine’s entire Web site got the previous month, according to Web editor Cowley.

“It seems like nothing hits people so hard as talking about where they live,” Cowley said. “They do care a whole lot. Of all the lists we could run, talking about where people live is the one what makes people the most passionate and the most vocal.”

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