Miami and New York City were well down on the list as was Paris, France; Paris, Texas, and Paris Hilton.
The survey uses a variety of data to determine livability.
(Parenthetical note: My "study" is based on emails I routinely get and read that rank cities. The kingpin of this type of "study" is WalletHub, which uses data to determine the best cities in which to raise children, the best cities in which to work, the best live-work balance cities, etc. They crunch data and come to a conclusion, then release a list of (for instance) 150 California cities, ranked.
(Part of my problem with them is that they selectively choose the data for the measurements. Does having more parents with college education make it a better place to raise children? I don't know, but they seemingly choose things like that at random.
(The other problem I have is that the cities I love the most – Fairfield, Suisun City, Eureka – invariably rank low.)
My study based conclusions on five factors to determine the most livable cities:
- Distance from Travis Air Force Base.
- Distance from the Suisun Marina.
- Amount of time I've lived there.
- How close it comes to rhyming with "Barefield" or "Fa-foon Gritty."
- How many people I know who live there.
Fairfield and Suisun City tied for first. The tie-breaker was whether you could subscribe to the Daily Republic newspaper's home delivery in the city, so the cities remained tied.
"These cities tested off the charts," I said in a press release after reviewing the list. "They are clearly the most livable cities in America. The fact that they each scored 10 out of 10 on four factors and 9 out of 10 on another is amazing. Bravo to both cities. If more cities were like Fairfield and Suisun City, the world would be a better place."
Vacaville earned a spot as the third-most-livable city in the world. The gap between the top two and Vacaville was large, but Vacaville still placed well above such popular cities as Austin, Texas; New Orleans; Moscow; Luckenbach, Texas; and whatever Springfield is the one where "The Simpsons" live.
Rio Vista was fourth and Vallejo rounded out the top five.
Most of the other cities in the top 100 were in California, with the notable exception of Grarefield Baboon-Witty, France, a small town near the German border that scored very high in one unspecified category.
"This list is based on data, so don't argue with it," I said. "The nice thing is that it gives a template for what makes a place livable. We have high hopes that other cities will follow the lead of those that topped our list and move to Fairfield and Suisun City."
The mayor of Grarefield Baboon-Witty was pleased with his city's placement on the list.
"Je souhaite seulement que je vivais plus près de la marina de Suisun, (I only wish I lived closer to the Suisun Marina)," he said.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.
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