Dear George,
When our university’s
president arrived six years ago, a high-level administrator recommended to him
that he use social media to connect with the student body. Despite no
prior familiarity with Twitter, the president began tweeting regularly, using
the hashtag #HottestCollegeInAmerica to connect with his seventy thousand
followers. Initially I thought this was preposterous: (a) that the
president tweets to the students in the first place; and (b) that he presents
the university as “the hottest college in America.” Granted that the
university is well-respected, it never struck me as particularly “hot” and definitely not as "the hottest".
However, after receiving hundreds of #HottestCollegeInAmerica messages over the
past six years, I’ve found my attitude becoming more and more positive. I
still don’t think that the university is as hot as Michigan or Berkeley, but, for me, it's become a lot #Hotter than it used to.
This made me wonder: What
if people starting tweeting about the city of Cincinnati as the
#HottestCityInAmerica? I always worry about Cincinnati being under-rated.
While it lacks the pizzazz of Las Vegas or Miami Beach, Cincinnati certainly has its
share of attractions. I found my opinion supported recently when I ran
across an online article by Bloomberg.com which ranked America’s “50 Best Cities”.
Cincinnati was ranked No. 21. Since there are 382 metropolitan areas in
the country, No. 21 is definitely on the high side. This led me to look
around for other efforts to compare America’s largest cities on one dimension
or another. Here are some of Cincinnati’s other recent rankings that I
ran across.
#1 in the nation,
Recreation (WalletHub.com, 2015). WalletHub’s rankings of the 100 largest
U.S. cities were based on parks, average price of food, and high ratios of
playgrounds, swimming pools, music venues, and tennis courts to number of
residents.
#1, Best City for New
College Grads (SmartAsset.com, 2016). Smart asset.com’s rankings were based on cost of living, job market,
and how fun it is to live in the city. Cincinnati’s cost of living is 3rd
lowest among the nation’s 100 largest cities, and the city ranked high on its
job market and on fun (population in their twenties, restaurants and
entertainment, Yelp ratings of bars and restaurants).
#1, Best U.S. City for Pets
(WalletHub, 2016). WalletHub.com rated Cincinnati as the number one city in the U.S.
for pets (and pet lovers), based on pet-care providers, vets and vet costs,
animal shelters, dog parks, and pet-friendly restaurants and hotels.
#2, Health Care (livability.com, 2014). Livability.com identified the 100 best cities in the U.S. for health
care, based on access to care and affordability of care. Cincinnati came
in second.
#2, Most Popular for the
Holidays (bestplaces.net, 2011). Cincinnati ranked second among 300 U.S.
cities in the amount of increase in air traffic for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays
(compared to total annual flights).
#3, Top U.S. Travel
Destinations (LonelyPlanet.com , 2012). Lonely Planet, the travel web-site,
ranked Cincinnati No. 3 among its top travel destinations in the U.S. for 2012.
Local attractions included parks and river walkways, Mt. Adams nightlife, the
Cincinnati Art Museum, Over-the-Rhine, Findlay Market, and the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
#3, Most Affordable U.S.
Cities (National Association of Home Builders, 2014)
#4, Best Cities for Living
an Active Lifestyle (WalletHub, 2016). Sports clubs and park playgrounds
per capita, monthly fitness club fees, public golf courses per capita, etc.
#4, Most Sexually Satisfied
Cities (Men’s Health, 2010). Condom sales, birth rates, adult sex toys.
#4, Top Mom-Friendly Cities
(Sperling’s Best Places, 2015). Child care and daycare centers;
KinderCare, OBGYN and pediatric physicians, family fun centers, baby and toy
stores, parks and playgrounds, percent of households with children.
#4, Manliness (bestplaces.net, 2009). According to Sperling’s Best Places,
Cincinnati is the fourth most manly city in the country, based on criteria such
as number of professional sports teams, popularity of power tools, monster
truck rallies, fishing, home improvement, and drag racing.
#5, Arts Destinations (American Style magazine, 2004). American Style magazine ranked
Cincinnati No. 5 in its list of 26 top arts destinations in the nation,
specifically mentioning the Contemporary Arts Center, The Cincinnati Art Museum’s
recently opened Cincinnati Wing, and the renovated Taft Museum of Art.
#6, World Food Cities
(National Geographic, 2014). National Geographic ranked Cincinnati #6 in
its list of top 10 food cities in the world, citing the two million pounds of
chili served in local restaurants each year.
#6, Romance (Amazon, 2016).
Cincinnati, according to retail giant Amazon, is the sixth most romantic city
in the United States. Amazon complied their list from sales data for
romance novels, relationship books, romantic music, romantic comedy movies, and
sexual wellness products.
#7, Trendiest Cities (realtor.com, 2016). Evaluating America’s 500 largest cities
for their “trendiness”, e.g., yoga studios, bike shops, “foodie hot spots,”
etc., realtor.com (2016) ranked Cincinnati No. 7. Cincinnati’s
trendy features included massive street-painting parties, evening glow-art
bashes, group bicycle rides, downtown murals, Over-the-Rhine, and Findlay
Market.
#7, Cities that Rock
(Esquire Magazine, 2004). Esquire Magazine ranked Cincinnati No. 7 in its
top 10 list of “Cities that Rock,” chosen based on talent in their music
scenes, music venues, and record stores.
#7, Best City Park Systems
(Trust for Public Land, 2015). Cincinnati’s rankings were highest
on acreage, park land as a % of city area, per capita playgrounds, basketball
hoops, dog parks, and recreation/senior centers.
#7, Leanest American Cities
(Men’s Health, 2015). Percent overweight, type 2 diabetes, physical
activity, money spent on junk food, fast food 9 or more times a month (to
compare fattest and leanest cities).
#8, Most Creative Cities in
America (Movoto Real Estate, 2015). The Movoto rated the nation’s 100
largest cities on creativity, using indicators which included art galleries,
art supply stories, music stores, performing arts per capita, colleges and
universities, and percent of the working population in arts, entertainment, and
recreation.
#9 Best Cities for Raising
a Family (Forbes.com, 2012). Forbes ranked Cincinnati No. 9 among
the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, based on quality of education, median
income, home ownership, commuting delays, crime. affordable housing, and
overall cost of living.
#9, Best Cities for Singles
(WalletHub.com, 2015). WalletHub ranked Cincinnati No. 9 on
its list of best U.S. cities for singles, based on “dating economics” and “romance
and fun”
#10, Most Well-Read Cities
in the U.S. (Amazon, 2014)
Amazon (2014) ranked
Cincinnati No. 10 among the most well-read cities in the U.S. based on book, magazine,
and newspaper sales.
There are lots of other
high rankings for Cincinnati as well. Here is a quick summary:
#1, Most Cost-Friendly
Business Location (KPMG, 2016)
#1, Lowest Business Failure
Rates (Entrepreneur Magazine, 2006)
#1, Best Cities for
Business Tax Costs (KPMG, 2012)
#2, Cities Where Startups
Are Thriving (CNN Money, 2012)
#3, Top Metros (Site
Selection Magazine, 2015)
#3, Best U.S. Cities in
Company Growth and Relocation (Site Selection Magazine, 2015)
#3, Children’s Health Care
(US News & World Report, 2016)
#3, Fitness for Children
(Men’s Health Magazine, 2016).
#3, Fastest Bike-Commuting
Growth. (League of American Bicyclissts, 2015)
#4, Best Cities to
Celebrate the Fourth of July (WalletHub, 2014)
#5, Best Cities to Relocate
To (Lincoln Property Company, 2015)
#5, Literacy of the Nation’s
Largest Cities (U. Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2004) (libraries, newspapers, local
publications)
#6, Cheapskate Cities
(Kiplinger magazine, 2015) (low cost of living, free activities, Dollar General
stores)
#7, Top U.S. Cities by
Number of Industrial Jobs (Manufacturer’s News, 2010)
#8, Emerging Residential
and Business Growth (Forbes, 2013)
#10, Best Walking Cities in
the U.S. (Prevention Magazine, 2008)
#10, Most Beautiful Skyline
(Thrillist, 2014)
#13, Top LGBT-Friendly
Cities in the U.S. (NerdWallet, 2015)
#13, Fittest U.S. Cities
(American College of Sports Medicine magazine, 2013)
#16, Top U.S. Cities for
Working Women (NerdWallet, 2015)
#16, Top Cities for Global
Trade (globaltrademag, 2012)
All in all, my research
project was a pleasing surprise. If I knew how to tweet, I might even use
the hashtag #HottestCityInAmerica once in a while. Of course, it would be an
exaggeration, but it wouldn’t be entirely fraudulent . I still don’t
think that the city is as hot as Las Vegas or Miami Beach, but now it seems a
lot #Hotter than it used to.
Love,
Dave
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