Kiplingers has just named Charlottesville the #4 Best Place to Live and Work for 2009. Why? Because we rock and have “stable” jobs.
Big, stable employers plus the UVA student body add up to paying customers for the small businesses that give Charlottesville its spunk. An eclectic mix of more than 150 shops, galleries and restaurants line the historic downtown pedestrian mall. For example, one-year-old Siips Wine and Champagne Bar has already become a hot spot with its ballroom-dancing and tango nights. Just a block away, Sharon Nichols opened her Dog and Horse Lovers Boutique a year earlier. She chose Charlottesville for her dream store because it’s a “vibrant city surrounded by horse country.”
How’d they decide on the top cities?
Based on the formula, which includes data such as income growth and cost of living, we looked for places with a professional, high-quality workforce that will help generate new jobs and businesses once the recession ends.
Full List after the break…
No. 1: Huntsville, Alabama
No. 2: Albuquerque, New Mexico
No. 3: Washington D.C.
No. 4: Charlottesville, Virginia
No. 5: Athens, Georgia
No. 6: Olympia, Washington
No. 7: Madison, Wisconsin
No. 8: Austin, Texas
No. 9: Flagstaff, Arizona
No. 10: Raleigh, North Carolina
[via Kiplinger]
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I think the article lost all credibility when they call Siips a hot spot.
I thought they lost credibility when they named Hunstville, AL as #1.
An eclectic mix of more than 150 shops, galleries and restaurants… wait, 149 shops, galleries… hold it 148 shops.. oops make that 146… 145… 144… damnit! 143 shops galler…. oh nevermind.
historic downtown pedestrian mall
Buildings from 1899, bricks from 2009, prices from 2039.
thank you, Doc!
“and have “stable” jobs”
yes, just like my ass plays banjo.
you wouldn’t think being proprietor of a dog & horse lovers boutique would be a stable job, but apparently you’d be wrong. ugh, animal freaks.
i wrote a book on this exact topic:
“hot air rises: modern media and the self-fulfilling prophecy”
look for it next to malcolm gladwell’s “pop: bubble gum for your brain” and thomas friedman’s “lunchtime in mogadishu: cheezeburger diplomacy and the islamic extremists who don’t care”
orse lovers boutique would be a stable job
I whinnied.
cost of living?! whaa?
I lived in LA (Lower Alabama) for a year and they called people in Huntsville a bunch of space walking Yankees! Alabama Ain’t Right should be their state logo.
haha
My brother lives in Huntsville. He works for NASA and the Defense Department designing new military toys. If the defense of this nation comes down to relying on him, be VERY afraid.
Umm, sure, the Huntsville thing is laughable… also, can’t imagine how D.C. ever made the list?
But it just points to a “consider the source” problem for these Kiplinger people.
My only concern? The kind of people who might believe their blather: e.g., nerd-packers who also make their buying decisions on what they read in Consumer Reports, and such. That we could get a new influx of such folk in our community?
Now that would really be awful.
Oh the Joys of living and commuting in D.C.
If we could somehow get more traffic we could move up a spot.
“…that will help generate new jobs and businesses once the recession ends.”
So this’ll be a great place to live once all of those “stable employers” stop hemorrhaging jobs? Good. I guess I’ll mark my calendar for 2011. Look at Craigslist or the VEC website: you see a handful of IT jobs for people with engineering degrees and years of experience, multiple repostings of the same nursing jobs, and the usual slurry of hourly retail, food service and clerical positions that don’t pay a living wage and offer no benefits. And even getting those jobs is becoming an extremely competitive thing. What job market are they talking about? Did they do any research at all?