Quality of life? Raleigh ranks No. 1 among large U.S. metros

Triangle Business Journal - by G. Scott Thomas Portfolio.com/bizjournals

Read more: Quality of life? Raleigh ranks No. 1 among large U.S. metros - Triangle Business Journal 

Raleigh can’t match the cultural splendors of New York City, the financial clout of Chicago, or the ethnic diversity of Los Angeles. But it does have plenty of attractive qualities of its own.

Such as its high-tech industries, which have established Raleigh as an anchor of the famed Research Triangle.

And its high-profile universities, led by North Carolina State, which have cemented its reputation as an educational center.

And its status as a state capital, which has brought political prominence and economic stability.

And now you can add this: Raleigh is the major market that offers the best quality of life in America, according to a new study by Portfolio.com/bizjournals.

The study compared the performances of America’s 67 biggest metropolitan areas in 20 statistical categories. The highest scores went to well-rounded markets with healthy economies, moderate costs of living, light traffic, impressive housing stocks and high-powered educational systems. (Click here to open an interactive chart with all of the data used in the study).

Raleigh earned first place, edging out two metros that are substantially larger, No. 2 Washington, D.C., and No. 3 Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The Durham metropolitan area, which includes Chapel Hill, was not part of the study because it does not rank among the nation's 67 largest metros.

A combination of several factors pushed Raleigh to the top of the list:

• It’s growing at a rapid pace. No major market is expanding as rapidly as Raleigh, whose metropolitan population has increased by 37 percent since 2000.

• It has a vast inventory of new homes. More than half of all houses in the Raleigh area have been built since 1990. Las Vegas is the only other market above 50 percent.

• It has an impressive supply of high-level jobs. Forty-four percent of Raleigh’s workers hold management or professional positions, surpassing all but three markets.

• It has a well-educated work force. Raleigh, at 41 percent, ranks sixth in the share of adults holding bachelor’s degrees.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals analyzed the 67 metropolitan areas that have populations of 750,000 or more. The raw data used in the study came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006-2008 American Community Survey. Details of the criteria for the rankings are in Metro Quality of Life: Methodology.

These markets are the 10 best in terms of quality of life:

1. Four reasons for Raleigh’s No. 1 rank are listed above. Others include its large percentage of young adults, its historically low unemployment rate, and its impressive array of big houses.

2. Washington, D.C., leads four categories. It has the lowest poverty rate for families, the largest concentration of management and professional jobs, the highest share of big houses, and the best percentage of college-educated adults.

3. Prosperity is a key to Minneapolis-St. Paul’s high rating. It has the third-lowest poverty rate of any major market, and its median household income of $66,281 is the ninth-best.

4. Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn., is unusually stable. Eighty-eight percent of its residents have lived in the same house for more than a year, a rate second only to New York City. Its median household income ($83,492) ranks third.

5. No market has a lower jobless rate for workers between the ages of 25 and 64 than Salt Lake City. Only Washington has a larger share of homes with at least nine rooms. One-fifth of Salt Lake City’s houses are that size.

Read more: Quality of life? Raleigh ranks No. 1 among large U.S. metros - Triangle Business Journal