CNN/Money Magazine - Best Places To Live

[depechecureguyorl]

In case no one has seen/heard about it, but CNN/Money Magazine recently related their rankings for the best places to live in the USA. First place was Moorsetown, NJ. The highest ranked city in Florida is Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville at number 50. Check out the link below to see your individual city statistics. The link also leads to the complete list of rankings.

Florida City Statistics Index

Note: The findings are based on population statistics for the city and immediate surrounding (unincorporated county) ares. MSA figures are not used.

Orlando scored pretty low.

[bic]

Oddly, CNN/Money claims that the population of Orlando is 773,856, while listing Tampa at 690,356 and Jacksonville at 789,093. I've never seen that 773,856 population figure used for Orlando before, but at least it gives a better impression of the city's size than the city limits 205,000 figure suggests. It seems like they might have taken the Orange County population statistic and just subtracted Winter Park and other townships from the figure to get Orlando's numbers.

[bic]

By the way, ouch for Lakeland being ranked as the second most polluted city in the country. I had no idea it was even close to being considered polluted. Any Lakelanders care to shed some light on this subject?

[Aessotariq]

I think we could spend a whole thread trying to figure out how they divided up the metro areas, whether they did it by radius or what. Some of these numbers are really strange.

For Broward County, it looks like they divided it into three metro areas: Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach. And what's really strange is that they show Pembroke Pines at 31,984, when the city's population is over 146,000. They must have bunched that in with Hollywood.

And in Miami-Dade, it looks like they divvied it up into Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Opa Locka, and Homestead. These aren't as out of whack as Broward's since the population figures are better distributed, and these tend to be "centers" or "spheres of influence" in the county anyway.

[Aessotariq]

By the way, ouch for Lakeland being ranked as the second most polluted city in the country. I had no idea it was even close to being considered polluted. Any Lakelanders care to shed some light on this subject?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

phosphate mining?

[depechecureguyorl]

Oddly, CNN/Money claims that the population of Orlando is 773,856, while listing Tampa at 690,356 and Jacksonville at 789,093. I've never seen that 773,856 population figure used for Orlando before, but at least it gives a better impression of the city's size than the city limits 205,000 figure suggests. It seems like they might have taken the Orange County population statistic and just subtracted Winter Park and other townships from the figure to get Orlando's numbers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That they did...Orlando's figures include the actual 205K in city limits and the surrounding unincorporated Orange county areas. Pine Hills, Lockhart, Conway, Union Park, etc. I think Orlando should annex these areas anyway. They're all less than 10 miles from downtown and with their number added into the actual city limit figures; Orlando would be a good contender for the largest city in Florida spot!

[bobliocatt]

phosphate mining?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bingo! However the city of Lakeland is pretty clean, excluding a former railyard brownfield site, west of downtown. All of the phosphate mines, processing, chemical and fertilizer plants are located outside of the city in South Polk. I assume they're including the whole county as Lakeland.

Phosphate processing facility in Polk (Lakeland/Winter Haven)

aerial of a sinkhole that formed in a Phosphate Gypsum Stack a couple of years ago.

(How's this for drinking water?)

[bic]

Hard to believe that last picture was taken in Florida-- it looks like a scene out of the Arctic.

[Brickell]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lakeland&ll=...75536&t=k&hl=en

how it looks from the air... nasty stuff.

zoomed in:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=lakeland&ll=...29721&t=k&hl=en

[depechecureguyorl]

OMG...that has NOT got be good for the aquifer!!! Too close to Orlando/Tampa for my comfort!

[rkt]

Someone should tell them that Valrico is not even an incorporated city

[Aessotariq]

^ True... for all intents and purposes, it is a "place" by Census definition... and I think the intent of this study was to rank the "places" people live and how accessible amenities are within a given radius of a place, and they used the layman's common everyday usage of the word "city", which isn't always an incorporated place. The way of life within a given radius of the crossroads of Valrico is waaayy different from that of Tampa, wouldn't you agree? (politically, culturally, ideologically) Think of these more as "reference points" with spheres of influence rather than actual cities.

[EngineerNole]

This ranking system is a joke. It has Lutz listed as a finalist. My parents lived in Lutz temporarily. There is NOTHING in Lutz. It is boring!

[Florida]

I wish they would limit the qualifiers to actual cities with a set population, and rank in categories such as small, medium, and large cities.

[Viper]

But stuff like that makes too much sense and CNN can't have that.

[Florida]

CNN just hasn't been right since Bernard Shaw left!

[FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER]

That they did...Orlando's figures include the actual 205K in city limits and the surrounding unincorporated Orange county areas. Pine Hills, Lockhart, Conway, Union Park, etc. I think Orlando should annex these areas anyway. They're all less than 10 miles from downtown and with their number added into the actual city limit figures; Orlando would be a good contender for the largest city in Florida spot!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But it certainly wouldn't look it.

FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER

[FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER]

But stuff like that makes too much sense and CNN can't have that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's too much work and too hard for them to do.

FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER

[depechecureguyorl]

But it certainly wouldn't look it.

FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Looks can be deceiving...Miami certainly looks like the largest city if Fla, but it isn't; only by technicality.

Miami sure has their act together, though.

[F-L-A]

But it certainly wouldn't look it.

FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What's Florida's biggest city going by city limits? Oh, that's right... it's Jax. Being in Jax is like being out in the country compared to Orlando (well, taking it's city limits into consideration... that's actually where you are depending on how close to the county line you are ). I haven't got a clue when I've even entered the city. Whether Orlando would look the part or not, it'd certainly be an improvement.

[Florida]

I actually Jax is a quality city that offers a little something for everyone, from its majesitc oaks, bustling business climate to its ports and military bases ... I don't get the country feeling when I'm in the heart of Jacksonville, and of course its hard to compare one Florida city to another when they are all unique in their own way.

I've heard many comment on the artificiallity of Orlando's architecture, which are opinions I don't suscribe to. I've seen comments with regard to water quality in Tampa, but again every city has its soft spots... lets try harder as Florida forumers to focus on our cities' strong points.

[Aporkalypse]

The 2nd biggest city in physical size is supposed to be Cape Coral, oddly enough.

All of this CNN/Money stuff is meaningless.

I have seen Sarasota and Naples ranked highly in quality of life in various surveys recently and likewise with Orlando among larger areas. It all depends on the criteria, I guess.

I tend to be a lumper rather than a splitter when it comes to metros so I just can't stand splitting up the South Florida Counties into different regions. Drives me nuts just to think about it.