Philly ranks 17th In Pew Study Of Favorite Cities

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 6:44 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Uncategorized.

This former cow town is liked more than Philly

OK, I need your help on the latest Pew Study. This one asked more than 2000 people where they would most want to live.

Of the survey’s 30 cities, Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs placed 17th.

My question is should we be happy about this? When it comes down to the big question in life “Where do you really want to live?” that we actually beat such nice places like Chicago (better waterfront), Los Angeles (better weather) and Baltimore (where our beloved Poe died)? or should we be bummed that we’re not part of the emerging class of new American cities ?

Here’s the list

1. Denver

2. San Diego

3. Seattle

4. Orlando

5. Tampa

6. San Francisco

7. Phoenix

8. Portland

9. Sacramento
10. San Antonio

11. Boston
12. Miami
13. Atlanta
14. Washington, DC
15. New York

16. Dallas
17. Philadelphia
18. Chicago
19. Houston
20. Las Vegas

21. Riverside
22. Los Angeles
23. Baltimore
24. St. Louis
25. Pittsburgh

26. Minneapolis
27. Kansas City
28. Cincinnati
29. Cleveland
30. Detroit

So right off the bat you can see the bias of Americans who seem to have something against aging post-industrial cities. So I guess that’s why Denver on top? But really, It’s a big sprawled suburb that takes a day’s cattle drive to get to its airport in Eastern Colorado. I grew up near Denver, trust me.

It doesn’t make sense to me. Philly is a much better place to live. We actually have a little history to fill our museums with. Everyone in Colorado “Just Moved There.” A native (other than the many wonderful tribal Native-Americans) is anyone who can remember Stapleton Airport.

Also in Philly, you have people who still want to live near their parents, You have an area like Market Street east of City Hall that feels like the main street of a much smaller town, and my favorite a river is something that is BIG.

Ok…You can see the whole list. Should we be celebrating that we aren’t Detroit (casinos and all) or that bummed because some former cow town has transformed itself into America’s favorite city to live in?

4 Responses to Philly ranks 17th In Pew Study Of Favorite Cities

Ed Cunningham
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:02 am
All in all, as a lifelong Philly booster, I’d say I’m okay with the ranking. Considering the good taste the respondents showed in ranking that sun-scorched oil-bust town of Houston below us, it’s not all that bad. (But…Dallas?!)
Let’s face it, those Rocky Mountains are hard to argue with (best we can do in response is Manayunk). And we’re only two spots behind New York, the Capital of the Known Universe. (just ask them, they’ll tell you)
Check it out: most of those first 16 are in the South and West, the new promised land for mobile Americans. That combination of family and neighborhood doesn’t seem very glamorous, but who’s more glitzy than the Mummers!
Philadelphia is Hearth and Home, and that’s plenty good for me.
Now I really must stop by Beantown sometime to see what the big deal is there
Eric
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:56 pm
The mix of cities is well thought out though. I’d like to see who the people surveyed were (yes it’s a long list but I wanna see what kind of people answered).

I’m not mad at the ranking, I see us going up in the near future. Unlike lots of other cities, we have history, culture, dining, nightlife all packed in a small yet large city.

and…

LOVE
annelynn
February 4th, 2009 at 11:16 am
I grew up in Denver. I lived there for 25+ years before moving to Philadelphia nearly two years ago.

While it might simply be a case of “grass is always greener,” the most common response I get when I say I’m from Colorado is “What the crap are you doing in Philadelphia?”

Please for to explain (apologies for typing this novel of a comment - it’s rare that my Coloradoan heritage is relevant here):

1. Philadelphia is UNBELIVEABLY affordable - since moving here I have paid off extensive amounts of credit card debt AND purchased a house. These things simply aren’t possible for me in Denver - downtown living costs continue to rise, and the cost of having to commute into the city (where most worthwhile activities are) outweigh the cost of paying to live downtown. Here, all the activities I utilize are mostly within a 30 block radius. You just can’t beat a rich, urban environment when you hate paying for a car.

2. A public transit system with an underground subway and trolley, buses that are on time, and regional rail (UNHEARD of in Colorado) is major. I never complain about SEPTA - to travel like that anywhere in Colorado means you better have a car or be ready to buy a plane ticket. I am still infatuated with the east coast rail systems.

3. People are nice here. Is crime a problem? Yes. Does Philadelphia carry the rugged east coast abrasiveness? Yes. But any cramped east coast citizen can feel the brotherly love that comes naturally when all of our houses are separated by a mere wall instead of two acres of yard. The level of neighborly courtesy is MUCH higher than my experiences in Denver.

4. Winter sports, schmrinter sports - WE HAVE A BEACH like, an hour away. I’ll take sun and sand for $10 over schlepping tons of shit up to the top of a mountain for hundreds of dollars any day.

5. Philadelphia’s recycling system - especially now that there’s every-week pick-up - amazingly - trumps Denver’s. and Denver is FULL of hippies, I tell you what.

6. Speaking of which, when it comes to going green, urban living will always trump metropolitan living, no matter how you slice it. Take up less space and take the subway if you want to make an impact - no such thing in Denver. Pennsylvania also has about TEN TIMES more LEED-certified buildings than Colorado.

7. Philadelphia’s civic community is highly accessible. So is Denver’s but try getting your message to your city council or State Senators in NYC.

8. This is a city of neighborhoods. There are restaurants, groceries and nightlife within walking distance to most houses in the city proper. There’s like, TWO neighborhoods that have that in Denver and it’ll cost you over $500K to buy a place in that kind of neighborhood.

9. I though people in Denver were crazy about their dogs - this city is CRAZY in love with their dogs!

10. Philadelphia is so much more colorful than Denver. Gay, ethnic, religious, progressive, artistic, academic - you name it - it’s more concentrated, more visible, and much more available here.

I will always love my native state (and the Denver Broncos), and there are times when my longing for the view of the range from the streets of downtown Denver is tangible - but for me, Philadelphia is home.
Billy Bob
February 4th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Lived in Philly for three years as a kid. Visit there every year. (Love the city).

Overall, I say. “Meh, not bad” in relation to the ranking.

We were able to rank in the middle which I thought was fairly good given Philly’s perrenial image problem and lack of nationwide name recognition. This is in comparison to old powerhouses, Chicago and New York city which also had to deal with image problems (and still do, but they have gotten better from what I have seen.)

The survey’s respondents are varied but many are biased towards emerging cities versus older ones. I think that is fairly natural, after all, American cities were built on transients and out of towners and settlement inevetibaly orientated westward.

Is it impossible for Philly to remain competitive?

NO.

At least I think so. Philly has a TON of things going for it that many other old northern cities have. And I do think we are MUCH better off than Baltimore or Detroit.

So why aren’t we higher? Besides the “emerging” cities bias, Philly has an image problem that needs fixing. When many people think of Philly, they think of the sports teams or North Philly crime. Aside from getting our house in order, we need to more effectively market ourselves on a national stage to keep people coming to work and live here.

Philly can do it. Of course, some people will never come around. Some people just have this anti “old north city bias” that probably wont go away, no matter how illogical (Lesse how great Phoenix is in 20 years).

But part of that is image, and Philly CAN rework that.

Look at Pittsburgh for reinventing the city itself (great change) and New York for image adjustment (everyone was SCARED TO DEATH of New York in the 70s). It’ll take time but we can do it.