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| Places Rated Almanac: The Classic Guide for Finding Your Best Places to Live in America (Places Rated) | 
 enlarge | Author: David Savageau
Publisher: Places Rated Books, LLC
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $15.96
You Save: $9.03 (36%)
Buy New/Used from $11.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  (38 reviews)
Sales Rank: 68850
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 7th
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 662
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0979319900
Dewey Decimal Number: 307.7640973
EAN: 9780979319907
ASIN: 0979319900
Publication Date: March 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In this unique reference, every one of America?s 379 metropolitan areas is rated by factors that are important to anyone considering a move. Divided into nine thoroughly researched main topics, this guide derives its information as much from private sources as government sources, providing a well-rounded description of all that each metro area has to offer: ambience, housing, jobs, crime, transportation, education, health care, recreation, and climate. With a personalized quiz to help determine the most important factors of an area, this ratings sourcebook provides a wealth of information for those looking to move and the armchair traveler alike.
Amazon.com Review
Looking to live somewhere where houses are cheap? Head to Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa, where the average home costs $75,700, and annual property taxes for that home are about $960. Perhaps a good job market is a higher priority. In that case, pick Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; or Riverside, California, as they top the list of places projected to have the highest-percentage increase in new jobs by 2005. Most of those jobs, by the way, are expected to have above-average pay. This and other detailed information can be found in the sixth edition of Places Rated Almanac, a helpful resource for people thinking of relocating as well as those with a desire to learn about cities and towns. Metropolitan areas are rated in nine categories: costs of living, job outlook, transportation, education, health care, crime, the arts, recreation, and climate. But don't go looking for statistics on Podunk--the focus remains on 354 metro areas, metro defined as a city or urbanized population of at least 50,000, located in a county with a total population of at least 100,000. Places Rated is laced with intelligent and, unexpectedly, witty writing. The whole concept of judging places, the author notes, may seem the utmost of brass. "Yet everyone does it, privately. Some suspect that culture in Omaha or Des Moines or Saskatoon is a contradiction. Others surmise that daily life in Miami consists of surviving drug-trade shoot-outs..." Organized intelligently, Places Rated acknowledges that "livability" and "quality of life" are moving targets. Livable for whom? The artist who wants mountain vistas? The entrepreneur who wants low taxes and no red tape? With these limitations in mind, the book ends with a chapter titled "Putting It All Together," where the reader is invited to rate cities with a customized list of priorities. Arriving at your customized list, however, requires answering 72 questions that force you to decide once and for all what you value most--a low cost of living or good school districts or mild winters or some other criterion. And should you find that climate matters most, head for Santa Barbara, California, where winters and summers are mild and natural hazards are few, and stay away from Rochester, Minnesota, unless you're willing to endure 35 days when it's 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and 165 days of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, annually. --John Russell
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 Unlike previous volumes October 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
While full of arcane but useful info, this edition does not do as good a job of evaluating/comparing taxation and cost-of-living as previous volumes. If $$$ data is important to you I would suggest CITIES RANKED & RATED, 2nd ed. Bert Sperling & Peter Sander
 List-o-philia! June 3, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
As long as Americans are in love with lists and insecure about keeping up with their neighbors (in some far off state in this case)...books like this will continue to prosper, regardless of whether they actually make sense.
I found the weather section less than helppful as it didn't give any real information (days above 90 degrees snowfall etc) but opted for a 50 page breakdown of "regional weather environments"??
Not taking into concideration that weather can change signifigantly between neighboring cities just a few dozen miles apart.
I wrote them to express my dissatisfaction with this and other aspects and I was told that a new edition will be on shelves next year and that I should just buy the next one and hope for the best.
I donated the book to my local library.
 A must-read when you're going to move January 12, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
My family is in process of moving, and this book has been a great help in figuring out where is a good place, and where isn't based on what we think is important (crime rates, school systems, etc) and things we don't think are important. Other lists from magazines are loaded with "totals" of what they feel are most important, but that doesn't mean it's relevant or most important to us. With the breakdowns by category of the "best places" and why, it makes it easier to understand, too. And, it's nice to see that where I grew up rates so well, too. The only thing I thought that should be added or different: growing up in the Northeast, within an hours' drive, there are many other rated regions that rated better (or worse) than others. For example, it would have been nice to see that although some areas didn't have a high concentration of universities, that within a 30-mile drive, there actually were a lot, might help people who aren't as familiar with the areas as some that lived there or grew up there.
 Great Resource January 9, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I ordered this book to give me some idea of where I wanted to move to and settled down for retirement. It was very informative with a lot of great information. It gives you a wide range of info from traffic, schools, jobs, housing, cost of living, things to do, etc. This is a very useful resource if you are moving or retiring to another area or state. Excellent research tool!
Better than ever October 25, 2007
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Savageau has surpassed himself. The new PRA has more criteria, more detail, and more pages. I checked his new data on my city and he's got all the new info in it, which shows his thoroughness. He actually knows more about my city than I do.
I'll be reading this book 'til the next one, which I did with the previous one. Everytime I open it up I find a new category. There's nothing like it! I'm addicted now to demographics.
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