Twin Cities Ranked Among the Best - Again!

The Minneapolis - St. Paul Twin Cities metro area has ranked third in each of two new national surveys, one that rated local quality of life and one which rated physical fitness of residents.

First, Portfolio.com’s 2010 Quality of Life report analyzed a number of health and economic factors in the nation’s most populous metro areas to arrive at their conclusions. The Twin Cities area ranked high in Portfolio.com’s quality of life report, due in part to the residents’ median income, homeownership rate, commute time, low unemployment numbers, and education. The Portfolio.com survey listed Raleigh, N.C., Washington, D.C., Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, Bridgeport, Conn., and Salt Lake City, Utah as the best places in the nation to live and work in their analysis of the 67 biggest metropolitan areas.

Secondly, the American College of Sports Medicine’s 2010 American Fitness Index (AFI) report analyzed a number of health factors in the largest metro areas to determine their rankings. The AFI report ranks the Twin Cities metro area high for the number of people involved in regular physical activity or exercise; the number of healthy people; low jobless rate; abundancy of available parkland; availability of recreation centers; physical education classes; and having access to golf courses, bike and walking paths, park facilities, and dog parks. The Washington D.C. metro area was the fittest, with Boston, the Minneapolis - Saint Paul metro area, Seattle and San Francisco rounding out the top five fittest metro areas in the U.S.

Every year, sometimes every few months, Minneapolis and St. Paul are evaluated for one reason or another and the Twin Cities usually come out on top. In a six-month span last year, Twin Cities communities topped lists as the safest Metropolitan Community in the U.S., the second best in the nation for kids' well-being, among the Best Cities for Families, and the Happiest City for Families. Search through our Communities Information section to find more posts about news and information that show why different areas of the Twin Cities great.