Evaluating Cities - Helpful Websites

The library has many general references about relocating, such as Cities Ranked and Rated, and other items in the 312-317 area of reference. Travel or camping guides may also be of interest. How you look at the country as a place to live and work is shaped by all kinds of factors. General sources are okay, but what do you REALLY want to know about relocation?

Books like US By the Numbers REF BUS 317.3 KEA has backgrounds on political or social climate in all the states.

ACCRA cost of living REF BUS 339.42 ACC tells you how much the change in cost of living affect would affect your pocketbook. Look in the inside cover for how to calculate the formula. This tracks other grocery basket costs, utility costs, across the US too. It's more well-respected and authoritative than online calculators! It's a narrow glossy paperback in Reference shelves. You'll learn something like this: How much more or less you will need to live your present lifestyle elsewhere.

Websites you may have never considered might spark new questions.

Best Cities for Business or Entrepreneurial Activity
http://www.entrepreneur.com/bestcities

Left or Right leaning?
http://www.turnleft.com/geo.html

Housing Opportunity Index
Housing Affordability factored together with Median Income levels. The HOI is an indicator of home affordability in metropolitan areas across the nation. The lower the HOI, the less affordable it is to own a house. As a comparison, PDX- 39.4, Santa Barbara CA - 19.6, Minneapolis/St Paul - 80.9, Jacksonville, FL - 68.1
http://www.nahb.org/hoi

Traffic - Are you okay with a long commute time?
http://mobility.tamu.edu/

Cancer mortality
http://www3.cancer.gov/atlasplus/
Is it important for you to know what parts of the country have more cancer? This site may be of interest to private citizens, special interest groups, students, researchers, health care professionals, legislators, and others. Does this spark other health or environmental questions? There are websites that direct you to places with poor water quality, or other health and environmental issues too.

View of city from Space thanks to Nasa Photography. Is sprawl a factor in selecting?
http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/efs/

Handy Census page
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet

How hot is it really/cold is it really? http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/online/ccd/maxtemp.html
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/online/ccd/mintemp.html
Daily highs and lows, (maximums and minimums) are better clues at how hot or cold a place can really be. Focusing on averages, like many books and travel guides, won’t adequately prepare you for the best or worst a town’s weather has to offer.


Booksellers/bookishness/book publishing http://www.uww.edu/marketingandmedia/special_reports/cities/
Is what you do for a living dependent on a highly literate population?
If not, ask yourself, what is it you depend on your city having? Could it be a high gambling population, or a population with lots of babies, or a city that needs frequent auto repairs? Librarians can help you find the source of such records. There are many ways to target any great market in which to use your skills, including Editor and Publisher Market Guide REF 317.3 EDI 2008, or even to the neighborhood level, with Zip Code Demographics REF 383.145 COM 2007.

Dangerous Roads, Stolen Cars, other crime--tracked by insurance firms
Many national insurance companies track things like dangerous intersections, locations known for vehicle theft, vehicle accidents, and other things. No wonder insurance is higher in some areas than others. Use your skills to search with a keyword in google, dangerous intersections insurance or something similar.

County business patterns
http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html
This tells you quantity of any kind of business with statistics on their payroll and growth trends are in any county or state. Click on * View in Hypertext Tables (html) to begin.