Hope you look good in bronze, because D.C. was just named the third best city in America by Businessweek.
D.C. pulled in a third place finish, behind Seattle at number 2 and San Francisco at number 1. According to Businessweek, the District has become “the nation’s leader when it comes to leisure,” based on our significant park acreage, high volume of restaurants and cultural arenas like the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian museums.
This comprehensive ranking of America’s cities comes out every year, and judges them based on a variety of categories, from libraries to crime to air quality. Businessweek and Bloomberg Rankings came up with the ranking system, which took into account five major areas:
- Leisure (bars, restaurants, libraries, museums, professional sports)
- Education (public school performance, local colleges)
- Economics (income, job availability, unemployment)
- Crime
- Air Quality
The metrics for ranking cities were altered slightly this year to put more emphasis on leisure amenities – so while many cities’ rankings may have changed, that doesn’t mean that they’ve gotten significantly better or worse since last year’s list. Last year Raleigh, North Carolina topped the list while they came in 18th place this year. The District pulled itself up to number 3 from number 6 last year.
Check out where the rest of America’s biggest cities fall in the ranking with the whole list. How does your hometown stack up to D.C.?
Photo: Flickr user rahtenkamen
