America’s Top 25 Towns To Live Well

by cindy ~ July 23rd, 2009 ~ Best, The Peninsula in the bay area, Top Lists, Uncategorized Comments (77)
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There are so many lists published every year that it seems that one could spend far too much time reading them, and far less time doing something else worth while.  Frankly, they can be a waste of time unless you really use the lists for a certain purpose.  Seeing that my passion is all about helping people find their next dream home and selling the current one, I am always interested in reading the lists that have anything to do with where people are choosing to live (and why).  I found the list of America’s Top 25 Towns To Live Well quite interesting.

My last post on July 20, 2009 questioned how in the world did Money Magazine come up with their list of The Top 10 Places to Live, since the list only included cities that had bad weather most of the time.  Oh, and by the way, Money Magazine’s Top 10 did not include a California city.  I would bet that most of us that live here on the peninsula, in the beautiful Bay Area of California, certainly think that we deserve inclusion in that list.  Weather here is gorgeous and that should be considered in the weight of the decision for the Top Places to Live.  Yes, weather is an important consideration for most, if not all of the clients that I serve.  And yes, I have spent far too much time on the east coast and in the midwest enduring a lot of rain, wind, clouds, blizzards, freezing temperatures, socked in gray skies and morose weather in general.  What a waste of time spent indoors!  Isn’t life happier when it is sunny, warm and with a slight breeze?  Think, Menlo Park, CA; Atherton,  Palo Alto, and Woodside, CA to name a few…

I am happy to say that www.Forbes.com got their lists right (in my humble opinion).  In America’s Top Towns To Live Well, there are 9 towns in California that made the list of 25!  Thank goodness someone did thorough research and weighted in the delight of seeing the sun more than a few days a year.  I am content to see that Mountain View and Cupertino, CA came in on the list in 4th and 5th place.  Give an applause for seeing Foster City, Belmont and Hillsborough, CA in 10th, 11th and 12th place.  I still have not reconciled why Menlo Park and Palo Alto, CA are not on the list?  I’ll do that later.

So, in order to feel like you are “Living Well”, one of the things that is often considered is nice weather on a regular basis.  Of course there are several other factors such as schools, crime rate, culture, economy, job opportunities among others, when making the decision on where to move and live.  Real estate here is expensive, and it is difficult for many people that live here to afford it.  Silicon Valley has been the land of opportunity for thousands from every walk of life.  This area has historically proven that real estate has been a good investment.  All in all, I do think that Menlo Park, CA or Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Woodside, Los Altos, San Carlos, CA or any of our other lovely peninsula towns/cities are indeed great places to “Live Well.” 

Check out the link and read in detail how the towns were selected.  See America’s Top 25 Towns To Live Well List of lists on Forbes.com at http://bit.ly/2ZEMMm.   There are several other lists to peruse too, such as;  Best Places to Grow Old, Cities Hardest to Get By, and Best Places to Move To (my personal opinion is that last list needs to be researched better – oh my goodness!).    I hope you find some of it interesting and/or helpful.