Maryland’s Third-Largest City Highly Rated in 2006 Annual Ranking By ‘Money Magazine’
ROCKVILLE, Md., July 19, 2006—Money Magazine, one of the nation’s most respected financial publications, publishes an annual list of the “Best Places to Live” in the United States. In the most recent edition of this list of the Top 100 communities, which is based on much data and analysis, Rockville is rated a very impressive No. 26.
This is the first time Rockville has made the list. The criteria starts with communities with populations exceeding 50,000, and in the latest official U.S. Census of 2000, Rockville’s population is 47,388. However, Maryland statewide population estimates are now issued between the Census, which is conducted every 10 years. In the most recent estimate, Rockville’s population was estimated at 57,100, making it the third-largest city in the state—and eligible for consideration in the Money Magazine rankings.
Rockville was one of only two Maryland communities to make the 2006 list. The area listed as “Columbia/Ellicott City” was No. 4 overall.
“We are very proud of this recognition, which reflects the great quality of life overall that we have in Rockville,” said Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo. “It also shows that our City is headed in the right direction. It is a notoriety that is a tribute to everyone in our community working toward making Rockville a better place to live.”
Money Magazine said it works with data provider “OnBoard” of New York and consultant Bert Sperling of “BestPlaces.net” to gather information on “livable locales that combine the best of city and suburban life.”
The search started with 745 places that have populations exceeding 50,000. The list was pared to 670 after screening out cities of more than 300,000 people, retirement havens where more than 40 percent of the residents are over 50 and places where people identify themselves as being from a smaller locale within the area. The group was defined to 201 after elimination of cities with low education scores, high crime rates, absurdly high housing costs, declines in employment or income less than 90 percent of their respective state median.
The remaining communities were ranked using 38 quality-of-life indicators and six economic opportunity measures in the following categories: Ease of Living, Health, Education, Crime, Park space, Arts and Leisure.
Final rankings were then determined on economic opportunity, taking into account income, job growth and affordability, quality-of-life indicators (including risk of violent crime and property crime, quality of public schools, arts and leisure, park space and incidence of stress-related ailments) and "ease of living" gauges such as commute times, divorce rates, population density and weather.
Fort Collins, Colo., was rated as the No. 1 place to live in the 2006 rankings, followed by Naperville, Ill., and Sugar Land, Tex. Rockville’s No. 26 ranking placed it just behind Ann Arbor, Mich., (home of the University of Michigan), and Coral Springs, Fla.
Reston, Va., was No. 43 on the list and Chesapeake, Va., was No. 59.
“People in the Washington metropolitan are familiar with the type of community we have in Rockville,” said Giammo. “This designation by Money Magazine will allow people around the nation to know more about what we are doing here—and this is even before we have opened our new Town Center. We are working every day to make Rockville an even better place to live.”
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