Houston: America's Coolest City?

I guess unusual results can be expected when Forbes is responsible for deciding what's hip. So what does Houston have going for it that would put it at the top of Forbes' list of "America's Coolest Cities To Live"?

Jobs.

Jobs are cool (especially to those recent college grads who've had to move back home without one), and Houston has them in droves, which is attracting an influx of young professionals. And these young professionals are, in turn, driving a transformation of Houston's formerly "dreary corporate cityscape," writes Morgan Brennan.

But don't just take Forbes' word for it, they've actually quantified what cool is based on seven evenly-weighted data points covering entertainment options, recreational opportunities, restaurants and bars per capita, cultural diversity, median age, migration, and unemployment.

This may be news to planning geeks, but apparently zoning isn't cool. Along with stylish housing developments arriving downtown and art galleries opening in warehouses, Houston's "multicultural, zoning-free mashup of a streetscape" is a crucial ingredient in the city's recipe for cool, according to Brennan.     

Don't be too bummed New York, at least you made the top ten.