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The best cities for women
Ladies Home Journal
Nov, 1997
Author: Jacquelyn Mitchard
In this ground breaking report, Ladies' Home Journal rates
America's 200 largest cities on the qualities women care about
most--from good health care to bad hair days
This Thanksgiving, don't fault the females of Madison, Wisconsin,
Durham, North Carolina, or Burlington, Vermont, for sounding just
a giblet more jubilant than the rest of us. They've got special
cause for celebration: Our first survey of America's biggest cities
reveals that they are lucky enough to live in the three best cities
for women.
Other magazines have rated cities before, of course. But none,
we realized, ever evaluated places from a distinctly female perspective.
We thought it time to rewrite the formula.
We wanted to look at what matters most to women when they judge
the overall quality of life of a city or town. We asked readers
to tell us "What makes a community a great place to live?"
by ranking various factors. You told us that a low crime rate
was most crucial, followed by good public schools, well-paying
jobs, quality health and child care and the presence of women
in government.
To these yardsticks, we added some of our own: the proportion
of women-owned businesses; the size of the wage gap with men;
the state of the local economy. And since woman does not live
by paycheck alone, we also considered a few lifestyle factors.
Two were traditional: divorce rates and the ratio of single men
to single women. And two were not: potty parity (whether there
are laws that require at least the same number of public toilets
for women as men) and the probability of good hair days (based
on weather conditions). Okay, so maybe the last two lack cosmic
significance--but they do seem essential at times.
We then gathered data for the 200 largest cities in the U.S.,
using the latest information available from federal, state and
local sources. With the help of Fast Forward, a leading demographics
consulting firm, we crunched the numbers to see how the cities
compared.
The ten top cities came from three
regions: The Northeast was represented by Portland, Maine, Rochester,
New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as Burlington;
the South by both Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina, plus Orlando,
Florida; the Midwest, not only by Madison, but also Minneapolis,
Minnesota, and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Only the West was missing from the heights, but three western
cities did make the top twenty: Irvine, California, Seattle, Washington,
and Lakewood, Colorado.
Our best-of-the-best cities were all small, with populations
under 500,000. Most boast major universities, which often provide
first-rate teaching hospitals, encourage better schools, create
attractive jobs and support a lively cultural scene. Here are
sketches of Our Towns.
1. Madison, Wisconsin
2. Durham, North Carolina
3. Burlington, Vermont
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
5. Portland, Maine
6. Raleigh North Carolina
7. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
8. Orlando, Florida
9. Rochester, NewYork
10. Ann Arbor, Michigan -- This
truly is a college town, with the University of Michigan supplying
36,000 students among the 109,000 residents. No wonder there are
twenty-eight bookstores and almost three hundred software companies
doing business here. A2, as residents call it, earned high marks
from us for child care, health, and politics--the mayor is Ingrid
Sheldon.
RELATED ARTICLE: THE TOP TEN
Here's how our best cities looked in eight categories: Crime
(with special emphasis or rape), Education (including high-school
graduation rate and student/teacher ratio), Jobs (including the
wage gap and women-owned businesses), Health (including women's
specialists), Child Care (including licensed places per child),
Politics (women majors, governors, congresswomen), Lifestyle (including
divorce and potty parity) and Economy. Scores are in percentiles.
The higher the number, the better.
| |
CRIME |
EDUCATION |
JOBS |
HEALTH |
| MADISON, WI |
74 |
100 |
33 |
69 |
| DURHAM, NC |
33 |
57 |
70 |
90 |
| BURLINGTON, VT |
54 |
68 |
72 |
100 |
| MINNEAPOLIS, MN |
32 |
63 |
41 |
46 |
| PORTLAND, ME |
61 |
71 |
54 |
85 |
| RALEIGH, NC |
33 |
57 |
53 |
78 |
| PITTSBURGH, PA |
70 |
88 |
23 |
62 |
| ORLANDO, FL |
15 |
60 |
70 |
53 |
| ROCHESTER, NY |
59 |
82 |
45 |
70 |
| ANN ARBOR, MI |
51 |
42 |
25 |
82 |
| |
CHILD CARE |
POLITICS |
LIFESTYLE |
ECONOMY |
| MADISON, WI |
82 |
74 |
39 |
100 |
| DURHAM, NC |
95 |
71 |
29 |
97 |
| BURLINGTON, VT |
100 |
14 |
30 |
62 |
| MINNEAPOLIS, MN |
89 |
77 |
67 |
83 |
| PORTLAND, ME |
82 |
38 |
19 |
68 |
| RALEIGH, NC |
96 |
8 |
37 |
97 |
| PITTSBURGH, PA |
87 |
5 |
78 |
33 |
| ORLANDO, FL |
93 |
74 |
26 |
79 |
| ROCHESTER, NY |
100 |
8 |
29 |
46 |
| ANN
ARBOR, MI |
83 |
74 |
39 |
62 |
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