CNNMoney.com has a poll asking its readers to rank the 10 best big cities in America. I found the poll after reading Money Magazines best 100 places to live, where I noticed that there wasn’t a single Arizona city on the list. Noted as criteria for the list:
…we focused on smaller places that offered the best combination of economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community.
It’s not stated, but there seemed to be a 50,000 person population limit to qualify, which removes Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Tuscon, etc. from the list. But Sedona would certainly have hit my personal top 100. Plus, I’d have given strong consideration to Pinetop, Show Low, Prescott, Payson, and perhaps the biggest snub: Fountain Hills. Fountain Hills is such a gem it’s hard to quantify.
I suppose it’s possible the Money Magazine folks have never been to Arizona. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, and maybe nudge them a bit in the right direction for next year.
Anyway, back to the 10 best big cities poll. The poll has the following cities, which I ranked, and then how the 135,000+ voters ranked them.
| Rank | My Vote | Poll Results |
| 1 | Phoenix, AZ | San Diego, CA |
| 2 | Dallas, TX | Chicago, IL |
| 3 | New York, NY | Phoenix, AZ |
| 4 | Chicago, IL | San Jose, CA |
| 5 | San Diego, CA | Dallas, TX |
| 6 | San Jose, CA | Philadelphia, PA |
| 7 | Philadelphia, PA | Houston, TX |
| 8 | San Antonio, TX | San Antonio, TX |
| 9 | Houston, TX | Los Angeles, CA |
| 10 | Los Angeles, CA | New York, NY |
Among the pollsters, Phoenix ranked #3 behind San Diego and Chicago. That’s not too bad. I’ve never visited Chicago, so I honestly can’t say how nice the city is. And certainly it’s hard to argue that San Diego isn’t a nice place to live, if you can afford to do so.
In this poll, I think New York got snubbed. The worst big city to live in? No, it’s not New York.
If you would like to vote in the poll, you can find it here.
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“I’ve never visited Chicago, so I honestly can’t say how nice the city is.”
And yet you rank Chicago 4th on your list. How can I believe anything on your list when you rank a place you have never been as number 4? This list wreaks of bias from an uninformed Phoenix area real estate agent.
@Joe-
I didn’t pick the 10 cities to rank. CNNMoney.com picked the list of cities. I found the list, thought the results were interesting, and then shared how I would have responded to the CNNMoney.com poll.
Maybe your complaint is that Chicago shouldn’t be so high, or maybe you feel I ranked a place I’ve never visited too low. Looking back on that list (from nearly a year ago), I think San Diego got slighted. I’d rank it higher than Chicago right now. For the record, I have also never been to San Antonio or Houston.
So yes, my personal list is certainly biased. What opinion isn’t biased?