After a very (seriously) hidden ranking system, it appears that Albemarle County only made it to 13 out of the Top 20 places to live in the USA. The simple truth is that Albemarle County and Charlottesville should always be in the Top 5 places to live, no matter the type of list [insert funny list joke here].
Forbes used a bunch of variables to get to this list, including, but not limited to SAT scores, cost of living, graduation rate, standardized scores, home prices, property tax rate as a percentage of median home price, percentage of homes occupied by owner, per-capita income, crime rate and commute time. We didn’t come out on top and I’m pissed.
Here is my Top 5 List for the reasons Forbes pulled this list out of their arse (translation I am a poor sport when Charlottesville doesn’t win).
1. The ranking system is completely secret.
2. Midwestern places hold the top 5 rankings. What? Who likes corn and meth heads, anyway?
3. The ranking system has very little to do with real life family environments.
4. New Jersey made the list.
5. You can’t pronounce half the winners on the list…Ozaukee, Geauga, Waukesha…? Somebody shoot me.
The full list of Forbes’ Top 20 Best Places to Raise a Family is after the jump…
1. Hamilton County, Ind.
2. Ozaukee County, Wis.
3. Johnson County, Kan.
4. Geauga County, Ohio
5. Delaware County, Ohio
6. Morris County, N.J.
7. Hunterdon County, N.J.
8. Waukesha County, Wis.
9. Montgomery County, Pa.
10. Chester County, Pa.
11. Martin County, Fla.
12. Washington County, R.I.
13. Albemarle County, Va.
14. Collin County, Texas
15. Marin County, Calif.
16. Somerset County, N.J.
17. Howard County, MD.
18. Minnehaha County, S.D.
19. Sarasota County, Fla.
20. Norfolk County, Mass.
[Albemarle County Award, Full Article]
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Tagged as: ablemarle county, Award, best places to live, forbes, list, ranking, Winners
that is ridiculous, nobody wants to live in ohio. even the people who like it still want to get the hell out.
Ohio is the only state I’ve ever seen a huge white cross on someone’s front lawn, and I’ve been to every state except Alaska & Hawaii. There’s at least one cool town in every state, though. In Ohio, it’s Yellow Springs, home of Haha Pizza & Antioch University.
the only good thing about ohio is that they sell fireworks. but then as you’re paying, they make you sign a form promising to leave the state within 48 hours. yes i agree, ohio. if you were in my state i’d ask you to leave too.
actually, I think it goes: if parlie was in my state with fireworks, I’d ask him to leave too.
seriously though. ohio is the worst. The. Worst. best thing about it is its proximity to Kentucky and what does that tell ya.
I agree Ohio is a terrible state, but when you look at the list of criteria Thor gave us, it makes sense why it would rank high. It’s a terrible state that no one wants to live in, so I would assume they have low property taxes and home values. The cost of living is probably much lower than Albemarle, and we seem to have a shooting/stabbing/kidnapping every week.
maybe it was a special form just for me.
seriously, fuck you ohio. i’m gone.
unless you live in certain areas crime is rare in the county. I wish we weren’t in these list at all. The only true measure is how many list you have been on. Hitting the rating just right is a matter of when the poll is taken.
Charlottesville use to rank higher till the poll followers came here and ran the prices up- making us go down in the polls.
More useful is how the previous poll winner have handled success. For some place it’s like winning the lottery- and we know how that has work out for most winners in the past.
Can’t we just opted out??
Shen likes going down the poll.
@9 Brave talk, is she on vacation or something?
Out of curiosity, how many posters in these parts are raising a family? I suspect I have several kids over the average posters age in these parts.
I remember my days of wine and roses, and the difference in thing important have certainly changed with the addition of children, and even more so as they have become teens and moved to schools and wives and children.
One has already moved back to Cville from parts south. All of the sudden, with his wifes gestation, the importance of CHS fine arts and choice of AP classes became more important. And being stuck in traffic with a 2 year old can really blow…
I can’t believe FL also made the list.
yuck!
hmmm . . i grew up in the garden state, on a farm right near where the #6, #7, and #16 ranked counties in this list meet! our public schools were great, the countryside reminds me a lot of albemarle, PLUS i like to think i turned out pretty darn well. so, thor - lay off ole jersey!
all that said, i am happy to be here and building a life in cville. and the existence of cvillain.com makes life that much more interesting and well-informed - thanks villains!
I am so glad this is essentially a thread about states that suck. Suck it Jersey!
I just used the word “suck” twice in a row. This was intentional to demonstrate how much Jersey SUCKS. In other news, I have no idea what I am talking about.
All those places between the East and West coast shouldn’t count. Everybody knows there’s Injuns and tumbleweeds and it’s dangerous.
@8: You’ll never get to verify that.
@11 ditto. FL sucks.
one of the many reasons my loser ex left town is because i told him i want to raise my kids in charlottesville.
I went to Ohio a few months ago. That’s all I have to say about that.
props for 13th place = 12th loser, Thor
Ohio.
Orchid, next time you get a bad case of road rage because of an incompetent driver, check the license plate… 90% of the times, the idiot will be a FL driver.
I would like to submit Maryland as another state that totally sucks ass
21: I was just about to mention that 434’s rule in #20 seems to be correct of Maryland drivers one encounters in DC. Worthless, the lot of ‘em.
You would think they wouldn’t rank a place 13th best, 13 being an unlucky number and all. We’re screwed.
13 doesn’t exist in most restaurants, hotels or other tall buildings.
so we’re sorta someplace people who are unreasonably superstitous won’t even acknowledge.
weird.
/?yea for us!?/
everyone knows Tuesday is opposite day and given the company on the list, perhaps lucky 13 is more like it. Seriously, nothing in the SE (florida doesn’t count), SW (texas is its own country) or Pacific NW. That Albemarle even graces this list with its presence should be considered a miracle.
everyone knows Tuesday is opposite day
No, Tuesday is South Street Day.
/That’s right, I capitalized Day to make it seem more like a holiday; which it is.
Chester County, Pa. Is really really nice. And much more expensive actually than Cville. Beautiful old stone farm houses and such. The mushroom farms kinda make it less appealing though….stinky!
Although I’m rather glad we didn’t rank higher. To many people here as is if you ask me! I can still remember when there was only a field on Pantops and no car dealerships! And free bridge was one lane…boy that use to suck at 5pm though…
The mushroom farms kinda make it
less appealing though….stinky!trippy!Fixed that for you.
LOL Stanley. Thanks. Unforetunately not those kind of mushrooms. If they were I’d move up there in a heart beat.
@27 No more lists! No more people!
/closing the door now that I’m here
Thor, townies would prefer to be left off of the list.
The List is evil. Too crowded here. Leave us alone.
/thanks smiley.
Dang, I’ve lived in #12, #13, and #20 in the last 5 years. I think the Rhode Island one is a typo…sorry Silmo.
kiss her where it smells
take her to jersey
i can’t believe howard county (17) made this list. well, maybe everyone who can’t afford to live in montgomery county will move up there and ruin it, too.
/moved to cville because MoCo was actually getting too expensive
/and yes, maryland does generally suck, especially their drivers. i used to argue with people about this, but every time i go to visit the family it seems to get worse. happily, they’re moving to north carolina soon. woo?
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