Have you noticed how many "Best Cities For..." lists Austin has shown up on?
If there is a list created regarding cities, chances are Austin is on it. "Best city to date in," "Best city to retire in," 'Best city to find a job in," "Best city to find ten jobs in," "Best city to date a retiree with ten jobs in."
It's out of control! Not only does Austin make it on the lists, we're often number one. So why does Austin make all of these lists? Is the city that darn good or have journalists just stopped being creative? I, for one, think it's the former. Austin is paradise. (Except during the months of June, July and August. Then it's an insufferable underworld full of fire spat from the sky and bleeding earth.) Of all the places I've lived in and traveled to in America, I can honestly say that Austin is one of the best for almost everything: cost of living, quality of living, jobs, food, entertainment, dating and weather. Except for during Fire and Brimstone Season.
It was because of these lists that I moved to Austin. If you're from Austin, you probably don't want to hear that, but too bad. Don't worry, soon enough somewhere like Wilmington, NC or Detroit, MI will become the next hot spot and all the hipsters will head there. I, on the otherhand, have denounced hipsterdom and plan on staying in Austin for awhile. Maybe forever. However, if I could devise a way to create a self-enclosed mobile air cooling bubble suit in the months of June, July and August, then I would. What I'm trying to say is, IT'S UNBEARABLE IN THE SUMMER, PEOPLE! I'M SWEATING AS I TYPE THIS! But that's not the point of this conversation.
Are you ready to read about the buttload of lists Austin shows up on? Well, here we go.
If you are a young person, then there is no other place to live than Austin. Duh. Forbes named Austin #1 on America's Best Cities for Young People. Portfolio.com decided to jump on the band wagon and also name Austin #1 out of 67 Cities for Young Adults. 67 cities! Kiplinger named us #1 of the Best Cities for the Next Decade, and Forbes again named us the #1 Best City for Jobs. (By the way, you will discover in this article that Forbes has a huge boner for Austin.)
The Daily Beast named us #5 in their Best City for College Grads list, Sperling named us the #1 Best City for Dating, and Forbes, again, named us the 8th Best City for Singles. Oh, and Forbes also thinks we're the #10 Best City for Young Professionals. Moral of the story: Twenty-somethings ought to live their lives according to what Forbes thinks.
Don't you feel forgotten, you mature silver foxes. CNN dubbed us the #9 Best Place to Retire To, and Military.com says we're the #3 Best City for Military Retirees. Golf.com named Austin the #1 City for Golfing, and though we're not the aboslute best, Forbes still thinks we're the 12th Best City for Shopping.
For you folks thinking of buying a house here, Austin was named #1 of the Best Bargain Cities by Yahoo Finance, and MSNBC says we're the #14 slot out of 100 Cities to Raise Your Family. CNN thinks we're just generally the #2 Best Big City to Live In , and Kiplinger thinks we're the 5th Smartest Place to Live. I guess we're a good city to work at home from because AOL's Daily Finance says we're #1 when it comes to America's 11 Best Cities for Telecommuters. Also, Forbes says we're the #4 place when it comes to Earning a Living.
Often named the Silicon Valley of Texas, Austin is also a leading city for technology. We're the #2 Most Innovative City according to, SURPRISE!, Forbes. Wired.com says we're the 4th Top Tech Town, Business Week think's we're the 8th Best City for Tech Jobs, and Men's Health says we're the 8th Most Socially Networked City - beating out cities like L.A. and N.Y. by a long shot.
We all know that Austin is a diverse city with a never-ending plethora of things to do for folks with different strokes. For you artsy fartsies, Travel + Leisure Magazine says we're the #3 Best Music City and Moviemaker says we're the #5 Best City to Live, Work, and Make Movies in. We're also a Growing Celebrity City according to CNBC. For you outdoorsy types, Outdoor Magazine says we're the #4 Best City for Outdoorsy Things and Bicycling.com thinks we're Nigel Tufnel's favorite number #11 when it comes to Bicycling Cities. Advocate says we're the #9 Gayest City, and Hispanic Magazine named us one of the Best American Cities for Hispanics. Oh yeah, and last but not least, Travel + Leisure says we're the #8 Best Beer City.
Only #8?