Portland Maine is a historic New England port city that has transformed itself over the years in a very dramatic way and positive way.
From working waterfront to a vibrant community of posh restaurants and shops, white-collar businesses and sophisticated arts, Portland has been named the “most livable” city in America by Forbes.com in its most recent 2009 study.
“Portland draws so many people because it has a strong arts, cultural, contemporary music and foodie scene,” says Janis Beitzer, executive director of Portland’s Downtown District. “It’s a place where people set their own pace of life and work.”
The list was compiled by assigning points to cities around the country with populations in excess of 500,000, based on such factors as leisure index and crime data from Sperling’s Best Places, cost of living and five-year income growth per household, and yearly unemployment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some key statistics from the study included:
- Cost of Living at 102.1 ranking 290 of 379 cities
- Income Growth at 6.3%, ranking 86 of 379 cities
- Culture Index of 79, ranking 90 of 379 cities
- Crime per 100,000 of 2,611 for a rank of 55
- Unemployment of 5.9%, ranking 29
Rounding out the top fiver were: Bethesda, MD; Des Moines, IO; Stamford, CT; and Tulsa, OK.
Other New England cities in the top 15 were Peabody, MA at #14; Worchester, MA at #9; Cambridge, MA at #7 and Stamford, CT at #4.
Posted by: Michael Sosnowski
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