While there are thousands of “best places to live” lists, hardly any of them focus on the world’s most important population segment: Americans under 35. The Livability Index, compiled by Vocativ, a new Vice-esque site, measures cities in the only ways that really matter: from the percentage of young people, to the number of vintage shops, to the cost of an ounce of high-quality weed.
The methodology seems pretty reasonable: The authors took the 50 largest American cities and ranked them using 20 different criteria. You can peruse the findings by city or by criteria, and even see the sources, which are well-documented under each tab. Although I have to say I disagree with the way they researched the cheapest pint of beer: They determined the pre-tax cost of a pint of Guinness by calling an Irish pub in every city. Because who under 35 drinks Guinness?
Here, for example, is how Miami stacked up across a few of Vocativ’s categories:
It should be no surprise that Portland, Oregon, topped the charts, with other youthful enclaves like Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and Minneapolis rounding out the top five. You can even see which cities ranked in the top five for a certain category.
Surprises? Some cities you never really see on these lists, like Fresno, Columbus and Virginia Beach, all made the top 35. New York City was an astounding 23 and Los Angeles didn’t even rank. Must be all that pricey takeout.
Overall, it’s a pretty flawless way to measure a city’s attractiveness to young folks. However, if they’d taken weather into consideration, that top five would look very, very different. Just saying. Check out the whole thing over at Vocativ. [Vocativ via Digg]