Ranking the Cities
Many an American will gladly argue deep into the night that his home town is the cleanest, liveliest, fastest-growing or simply just the best place to live. The talk is part of the national pastime of comparing anything from batting averages to the busts of beauty contestants. Now along comes the Midwest Research Institute, a Kansas City, Mo., think tank with an avalanche of facts, figures and judgments. Funded by a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, MRI set out last year to measure the "quality of life" in the U.S.'s 243 official metropolitan areas, which range in size from New York (pop. 11.5 million) to Meriden, Conn, (pop. 56,000). Last weekend the results were published.
In taking on such an enormous and prickly task, the think tank's researchers knew they were rushing in where only local boosters would not fear to tread. Ah, but they had a computer. Into the electronic maw went 123 quantifiable variables in five broad areas: 1) environment, including indexes for air, water and noise pollution, climate and availability of recreation; 2) politics, which embraces the turnout of voters, number of newspapers and TV stations, and the performance of local government in fighting crime and getting federal aid; 3) economics, meaning everything from personal income per capita to unemployment rate to differences in income between center cities and suburbs; 4) health and education, including hospital occupancy and infant mortality rates, the percent of population enrolled in schools, the number of non-high school graduates; and 5) a grab bag of 54 "social components" that included racial equality, housing conditions and cultural facilities. All these data together, the MRI team decided, "show both the concerns of the individual and the well-being of the community." Then the researchers pushed a button, sat back and waited for the printouts.
Fascinating Findings. Below are the final returns on U.S. metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 inhabitants. The rankings (there are others for middle-sized and small cities) clearly reinforce the study's overall conclusion that those nice, comfortable Southern cities fare poorly in competition with their frenetic counterparts in the West, the North Central States and the Northeast. Indeed, only Birmingham, Ala., was rated "substandard" in all categories, while only Portland, Ore., came off with "outstanding" honors on all counts.
Because the box score is a weighted average of the 123 variables, it does not reflect some of the researchers' more fascinating findings. Some of the nation's most highly touted cities scored well in some categories, only to be dragged down by low marks in others. Proud Boston (No. 23) flunks its economic rating, for instance, while booming Atlanta ranks No. 45 because of poor ratings in every area but economics. Then there are a group of cities that are saved from much lower rankings by one strong point. For Washington (No. 20), it is health and education; for Miami (No. 47), a top-rated environment; for Omaha (No. 17), an "outstanding" social rating. As for Gerald Ford's home town of Grand Rapids, Mich. (No. 11), it gets its boost from a top political score.
Far from determining which is the best city, the MRI study promises to add fuel to the debate. The reason is that the computer's indexes measure statistical value rather than emotional appeal. Despite Buffalo's rank of No. 15, for example, most Americans are not likely to be extravagantly moved by the city's charms. But they will probably continue to cherish New Orleans for its fabled zest and beauty-- subjective qualities the researchers could not take into account in placing the old town near the bottom of the list.
OUTSTANDING
1. Portland, Ore.* 2. Sacramento, Calif. 3. Seattle* 4. San Jose, Calif 5.Minneapolis* 6. Rochester 7. Hartford, Conn. 8. Denver 9. San Francisco* 10. San Diego 11. Grand Rapids 12. Milwaukee 13. Salt Lake City *
EXCELLENT
14. Anaheim, Calif.* 15. Buffalo 16. Oklahoma City 17. Omaha* 18. Albany, N.Y.* 19. Syracuse 20. Washington, D.C.* 21. Los Angeles* 22. Columbus 23. Boston 24. Cleveland 25. Toledo*
GOOD
26. San Bernardino, Calif.* 27. Houston 28. Phoenix 29. Akron 30. Cincinnati* 31. Honolulu 32. Dayton 33. New York 34. Dallas 35. Kansas City* 36. Indianapolis 37. Chicago
ADEQUATE
38. Newark, N.J. 39. Paterson, N.J.* 40. Springfield, Mass.* 41. Youngstown, Ohio* 42. Detroit 43. Richmond 44. Fort Worth 45. Atlanta 46. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.* 47. Miami 48. Nashville, Tenn.* 49. Pittsburgh 50. Allentown, Pa.* 51. St. Louis* 52. Gary, Ind.* 53. Louisville* 54. Providence* 55. Baltimore
SUBSTANDARD
56. Tampa, Fla.* 57. Philadelphia* 58. Memphis* 59. Norfolk* 60. Greensboro, N.C.* 61. Jacksonville 62. San Antonio 63. New Orleans 64. Birmingham 65. Jersey City
* Metropolitan areas that include more than one city or cross state lines.
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