Monday, May 16, 2005

3rd Best

The most recent issue of Forbes Magazine ranks the Peoria Metropolitan area as 3rd best in the U.S. in living costs. “Living costs” is described as an “index measuring all household costs. Of the top 150 Best Places, Peoria was one of only four cities in Illinois ranked in any category. Chicago, Rockford and Davenport were the other three cities listed. Only communities with a metro population of over 350,000 were included in Forbes seventh annual ranking of Best Places for Business and Careers. Forbes relies on Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa. research firm and Bertrand Sperling, a consultant in Portland, Ore.

The survey showed that “energy prices in the U.S. rose 6.6% for businesses last year, with an 8% jump in taxes. The most expensive state in which to hang your shingle was California with housing pricing leading the way”.

Forbes lists www.forbes.com/bestplaces for more detailed information.

I did not note any media picking up on this article; if they did I missed it. If they didn’t other organizations promoting Peoria should do so.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forbes also called Enron "America's Top and Most Innovative Company." The cost of housing here is decent, but it is off set by the taxes and crappy public schools. That is, if you can at all afford it and you love them, you should really put your children in private schools, making Peoria fairly expensive for a family.

Merle Widmer said...

"No one is always right" and liars can mislead anyone, even the stockbrokers who promoted Enron, stockbrokers and analysts who do enough misleading on their own.

I almost always question surveys, and I question this one. However, not all are public schools are crappy and there are many good public school teachers.

To compare public schools with private schools is moot. Private schools can pick and choose and they can keep big government from interfering.

Thanks again for your insight.

Big difference