Pleasanton Mayor Responds To SF Chronicle Quality Of Life Ranking

PLEASANTON, CA – The San Francisco Chronicle ranked Pleasanton 13th out of the Bay Area’s 25 most populous cities for overall quality of life, one spot below Livermore.

The Chronicle determined its rankings by using various data sources to assign scores to each city in five quality-of-life metrics: Entertainment, Arts and Culture, Walking and Transit, Diversity, and Environment.

Pleasanton ranked fifth in “Environment,” 10th in “Walking and Transit,” 16th in “Entertainment,” 18th in “Arts and Culture,” and 23rd in “Diversity.”

Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown did not directly dispute the Chronicle ranking the way that last-place San Ramon did, but her statement did paint a picture of a desirable city well-rounded in all areas.

“Pleasanton residents enjoy a walkable community with a wide range of housing options near BART and two major freeways,” Brown wrote. “Our historic downtown is filled with bustling shops and restaurants. Located in the heart of our city is the Firehouse Arts Center offering a gallery and a performing arts venue. Pleasanton is encircled by scenic ridgelines offering hiking and biking trails. All of this is accompanied by high levels of public safety, exceptional schools, and a thriving business community, which make Pleasanton a desirable place for residents, businesses, and visitors.”

The Chronicle determined its rankings through various statistics that San Ramon Deputy City Manager Steven Spedowfski said did not paint a full picture of everything on offer. The “Entertainment” score was determined by data on the number of bars, restaurants, movie theaters and music venues per 100,000 people. However, the “music venues” metric is based entirely on the number of venues listed on Songkick that have at least one event in the upcoming year, which could discount concerts held at schools, downtown, etc.

The “Arts and Culture” score is determined by the number of museums with 10 or more reviews on Google Maps, which runs into similar issues.

The “Environment” category, in which Pleasanton performed best, is determined by how many residents live within a ten-minute walk of a park, based on data from the Trust for Public Land, which undercounted the number of parks in San Ramon.

The city also ranked lowly in “Diversity.” That ranking is a mix of the U.S. Census’ formula that determines the odds that two people chosen randomly from the city’s population will belong to a different race or ethnic group. The overall Diversity score is a mix of the same formula measuring age and country of origin. Pleasanton ranks 15th when “County of Origin” is used to determine diversity.

Raw 2020 census data shows a decently mixed city. In 2020, the city was 47.4 percent white, 39.1 percent Asian, 10.8 percent Latino, and 7.3 percent biracial. 33.9 percent of residents were born outside the country.

If rankings are to be truly believed, then Pleasanton has improved in the past year. In 2022, The Chronicle ranked the city 16th out of 25 overall. Last year, cities were ranked on many more categories:

• Bars per 10,000 residents
• Bike score
• Share of commuters with a work commute of less than 30 minutes
• Driving miles from nearest major airport
• Diversity index
• Food retailers per 10,000 residents
• Libraries per 10,000 residents
• Movie theaters per 10,000 residents
• Share of residents within half mile of park, open access or coastline
• Transit stops per 10,000 residents
• Walk score

In 2023, The Chronicle rated its home city of San Francisco as the Bay Area’s number one city, followed by Berkeley and San Mateo.

Livermore ranked 12th overall. It was second in “Environment,” and sixth in “Entertainment” and “Arts and Culture,” but 24th in “Diversity” and 19th in “Walking and Transit.”

San Ramon was ranked 25th overall. It placed in the bottom five for every single category except “Environment,” where it ranked 16th out of 25. It ranked 21st in “Entertainment,” 20th in “Arts and Culture,” 24th in “Walking and Transit,” and 22nd in “Diversity.”

None of these metrics, in 2023 or 2022, included resident input.

See here for the full 2023 rankings.