Spokane, Boise among the 100 Best Cities of 2021, study finds
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane and Boise made the list of the 100 Best Cities of 2021, owed to their stellar employment rates, industries, culture and outdoor recreation.
Boise grabbed the #19 spot and Spokane is #64.
The Best Cities list measures all of the great American cities against six metrics: place, product, programming, people, prosperity and promotion.
- Place: Quality of a city’s natural and built environment
- Product: A city’s institutions, attractions and infrastructure
- Programming: Arts, culture, entertainment and culinary scene
- People: Immigration rate and diversity
- Prosperity: Employment rates and corporate head offices
- Promotion: Quantity of stories, references and recommendations about a city
Spokane’s highlights were Prosperity (#1) and Place (#26), earning high praise for its burgeoning nightlife scene, culture and shopping, as well as its parks and outdoor recreational spots.
The Best Cities ranking mentions Spokane’s resiliency during the pandemic, ranking Top 3 for its change in unemployment, with many people holding onto their jobs.
Spokane’s glowing-hot housing market and family income also earned it the number-one spot in the ‘Prosperity’ category.
The city is also the urban heart of Central and South Washington’s iconic Columbia wine regions, which fuels Spokane’s growing culinary and craft-brewery scene.
Boise, Idaho earned top marks for the ‘Prosperity’ and ‘Safety,’ ranking #4 in both. The city’s booming tech sector, 20% population spike and low cost of living—all despite its relatively low population compared to the heavy-hitter cities on the list—puts it high up in the rankings.
The city’s housing market, which blows even Spokane’s and Coeur d’Alene’s out of the water, has earned it the #1 spot for Change in Home Prices subcategory. No other U.S. city’s real estate has appreciated more during the pandemic than in Boise, says Best Cities.
You can read more about the Best Cities 2021 list here.
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
