The Job Of Ranking Cities

Every year, Bert Sperling and his small team of researchers get to decide which are the best places to live, work, play, and even love.

1 minute read

May 6, 2007, 9:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera

"Every so often, a report comes out listing the best (or worst) cities to live in, the most romantic, the most child-friendly or the most affordable.

The cities at the top gloat; those at the bottom ignore the findings or dismiss them as skewed or irrelevant."

"But in one part of the country, little changes. The man responsible for many of those rankings, Bert Sperling, continues to plug away, dividing his time between Portland and Depoe Bay, Ore., compiling yet more data for yet more lists, just as he has for the last 20 years.

But who is Bert Sperling? And what gives him the right, as he has done in previous surveys, to put Flower Mound, Tex., on the map as one of the most affordable places to live with children? Or Wenatchee, Wash., as one of the greenest cities in America? Or St. George, Utah, as the safest place to live?"

FULL STORY: The Guy Who Picks the Best Places to Live

Saturday, May 5, 2007 in The New York Times

Social / Demographics United States

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