Hoover Among Best Places To Live In U.S.

HOOVER, AL — A marker in front of City Hall in Hoover reads, "Hoover: A Great Place to Live." As Hoover keeps growing in population, obviously many people feel that statement to be true. And apparently, a national publication agrees.

Money Magazine this week published its annual list of Best Places to Live, and Hoover made the list this year. Hoover came in at no. 84 on the list, which ranked the best 100 cities in the U.S.

The study looked only at places with populations of 50,000 or greater. Places with 300,000 or more people were broken down into neighborhoods, and from there the publication considered only neighborhoods with estimated populations between 5,000 and 200,000 people.

The study eliminated any place that had more than double the national crime risk, less than 85 percent of its state’s median household income, or a lack of ethnic diversity. This produced 1,796 cities from which to choose.

Hoover was not the only Alabama city on the list, and not the highest ranked city in the state. Auburn was ranked 66th.

Rankings derived from more than 80 separate types of data, in the following categories:

• Economy — based on local unemployment rate, historical job growth, projected job growth and the level of employment opportunities available, among other factors.
• Cost of living — based on tax burden, insurance costs, commuting costs, medical spending and income adjusted for cost of living.
• Diversity — based on racial makeup, racial integration, and economic diversity within a place’s population.
• Education — based on math and reading test scores and local and county level high school graduation rates.
• Housing — based on measures indicating affordability, supply and distress, including median home sale price in 2018, properties sold in 2018, utility and home cost of living indexes, and the property foreclosure rate, among other factors.
• Health and Safety — based on the number of hospitals and clinics, the number of mental health providers, dentists, doctors and primary care physicians, property and violent crime risk and homicide and drug overdose rates.
• Amenities — based on the number of leisure activities in the town and surrounding area, including bars, restaurants, museums, sports complexes, and green spaces.