PRINTRanking Columbia
National magazines put como on their lists
Colleen McDevitt
Diverse arts and music events throughout the year, such as this Yonder Mountain String Band concert at The Blue Note Oct. 22, contribute to Columbia’s high rankings.
January 11, 2009 | 9:38 p.m. CST
Lists. Some of us live and die to make, analyze and dissect them. Whether a subjective ranking of favorite bands, desserts or ’80s sci-fi movies, they’re known to spark endless, thought-provoking debates. Think High Fidelity and all those desert-island top-five lists shared between John Cusack and his co-workers.
Perhaps these intense discussions are what lead publications to attempt objective lists. For example, Billboard’s “Hot 100” is a compilation of the week’s most popular songs as determined by a combination of radio plays and sales.
24 percent of residents have a commute time of 9 minutes or less, making it No. 45 of the Top 101 cities with largest percentage of workers with short commute times (population 50,000+)
No. 67 of Top 100 high-educated but low-earning cities (pop. 5,000+)
No. 74 of Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of male engineers (population 50,000+)
No.12 of Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of male media and communication equipment workers (population 50,000+)
No. 61 of Top 101 cities with the most people having master’s or doctorate degrees (population 50,000+)
No. 15 of Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of females working in book stores and news dealers (population 50,000+)
No. 37 of Top 101 cities with the largest percentage of females working in community and social services (population 50,000+)
#22 of Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males in occupations: Community and social services occupations: (population 50,000+) (0.4%), #25 Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Book stores and news dealers (0.3%), #93 Top 101 cities with largest percentage of males working in industry: Music stores (population 50,000+) (0.3%)
--Rose Raymond
Ranking cities in the way that a person might arrange favorite albums or movies has been a trend of the past several years. It’s possible to look around Columbia and see nothing but an unremarkable, garden-variety college town. But an emphasis on education, the low cost of living and bountiful natural beauty has helped the city climb the rankings in a number of magazines’ lists of great places to live.
How Columbia stacks up
According to Forbes, Columbia is the 11th smartest city in America in 2008 — brighter than Washington, D.C., which came in 13th, and Seattle, Wash., which ranked 25th.
Columbia also came in fourth in Forbes’ “Best Small Places for Business and Careers” in March of 2008. Outside magazine recognized Columbia as a “star of America’s 21st century renaissance,” with creative growth and original ideas, by placing the city on its “Best Towns 2008” list — a moniker bestowed on only 20 towns or cities.
Pecking order
Simple curiosity is behind the popularity of city rankings, says Caren Weiner Campbell, special projects editor for Money magazine. Since 1987, Money has been home to a list of America’s Best Places to Live. “People like to imagine what their lives might be like somewhere else,” Campbell says.
Many magazines also present city rankings as a guide for those looking to relocate. Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, wrote Life 2.0, a book that spells out 150 affordable cities subdivided into categories such as porch-swing communities. This is where Columbia fit in. Karlgaard describes a porch-swing community as “vintage Americana suffused with parades, country fairs and summer evenings playing kick-the-can.” Life 2.0 was promoted as a list of suggested future homes for workers on the coasts who had grown tired of the abhorrent housing prices and other high costs of living.
Vicki Brewer, 33, moved to Columbia from Independence, Kan., because her job as an insurance underwriter was transferred. Brewer says she reads city rankings lists because she might be relocated by her employer again. When considering a place to live, Brewer says she’s most concerned with the area’s quality of education and crime rates.
America's Smartest Cities: Columbia is No. 11, says Forbes
Columbia scored high on this bright scale because a large proportion of its residents have graduated from college. The age of 25 was used as a mitigating factor to account for college towns like Columbia that would have a disproportionate number of 23- and 24-year-old grads milling around.
Nonetheless, college towns with relatively small populations such as Boulder, Colo. and Ithaca, N.Y., tend to dominate the top of the list.
However, the universities aren’t the only contributing factors to Columbia’s cranial wealth, says Stephen Ferris, professor and J.H. Rogers Chair of Money, Credit and Banking at MU. “If you look at your industries, university, health care and insurance require sophistication or at least some product education by the consumer if good choices are to be made,” he says. “Many of those employees come here, and they want to stay.”
Ranking high in education seems positive at face value, but Columbia resident Rick Cotner, 51, ponders the social impact of a city with so many college graduates. “The flip side of that is that if you don’t have a college degree, getting any sort of high-paying job is an issue,” he says.
Cotner says Columbia should offer more industry and manufacturing jobs to high school and college graduates. Doing so would help to alleviate the city’s social problems, he says, such as unemployment and rising crime.
Forbes says Como is No.4 small place for business and careers
Columbia is no one-trick pony: The city has received recognition for business in addition to education. An educated workforce and low operating costs are what put Columbia in fourth place on Forbes’ list. “Small places” were defined as those with a metropolitan-area population with fewer than 240,000 residents.
Columbia has a unique business environment that stands in sharp contrast to Kansas City, says resident Fred Westermeyer, who moved here a few years ago. Westermeyer, a student, has worked in the restaurant industry and has noticed businesses in Columbia exchanging services. For example, a restaurant that needed advertising might offer a corporate discount or free catered meal to another business. This is something Westermeyer didn’t see in Kansas City.
Cotner finds this ranking perplexing, citing a list of coffee shops and restaurants that have gone under this year. But he contends that the food-service industry is probably struggling elsewhere.
In addition, college towns like Columbia will fare better than most in economic downturns, says Kurt Badenhausen, senior editor of Forbes.
The preponderance of health care services also contributes to economic security, says Ferris. “People continue to need health care and to educate their children even during a recession.”
Columbia makes Outside magazine's Best Towns 2008
Columbia’s commitment to recreational facilities, parks and a thriving cultural downtown has earned it a spot on Outside magazine’s “Best Towns 2008.”
This year’s list focused on cities that have shown a commitment to arts, smart development and the environment. “It was very interesting and very heartening to see so much progress and good ideas and thoughtful growth,” says Jeremy Spencer, senior editor of Outside, on the cities he studied while compiling the list.
An array of readily accessible parks set Columbia apart from other cities of its kind, says Paul Sturtz, First Ward City Council representative. “We’re blessed with great natural features. It’s probably only been in the recent generation that they’ve been developed in a way that’s been user-friendly.”
Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman says parks and recreation are two of his main objectives. “Since I’ve been mayor, one of the things I have worked really hard on is getting us caught up in parks,” he says. In particular, the development of trails such as the MKT has been overwhelmingly popular, and there are more on the way. “With federal funds we’re going to be adding another 15 miles of trail and 35 miles of striped bicycle lanes.”
Pitfalls of paradise
Despite national recognition for being a good place to live, work and play, hidden drawbacks to the city still remain.
Columbia once reigned at the top of Money magazine’s “Best Places to Live in America” list. In 1992, it was in second place, and the city remained in the top half of the top 100 for much of the 1990s. These days, Columbia has vanished from the list completely. This might be due to a few of the qualities Money says it now considers when ranking cities such as ready access to major cities and airports.
Yes, Columbia is two hours from Kansas City and St. Louis, both of which boast international airports. But accessibility-wise, this is a far cry from say, Naperville, Ill., which is less than an hour’s drive from Chicago. The advantage? Chicago is the nation’s third largest city and has an airport that serves as a major transportation hub both nationally and internationally. Naperville frequently ranks in the top five on Money’s “Best Places to Live.”
On the other hand, Naperville is also plagued by suburban sprawl and traffic problems, plights that are trickling into Columbia as population increases, say some residents.
Columbia resident Courtney Waters, 28, says she suspects an inadequate foundation is the culprit. “I don’t think the town’s infrastructure is made to handle all the people who are moving here,” she says. However, Waters says she wouldn’t hold city planners accountable for today’s problems — she doesn’t think they anticipated this level of population growth.
For Brewer, delinquency and increasing crime rates are alarming. “I come from a small town. I’m not used to all the crime. In the four years we’ve been here, it seems like it’s getting worse.”
Statistically, the number of violent crimes reported in Columbia has stayed relatively constant since 2003 (despite a spike in 2007), according to the Missouri Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Although the number of crimes reported has remained static, the city has gained nearly 10,000 residents from 2003 to 2007, U.S. Census Bureau data reveals. This means that violent crimes committed per resident have actually decreased.
Despite the handicaps, Columbia has its benefits, especially with a relatively stable market in an economic downturn. “Brains and creativity are now the natural resources of the economy,” Karlgaard writes about college towns in an e-mail.
Looking forward: Como's future
Whether Columbia will continue to appear on these types of lists remains to be seen. It depends on a variety of factors: how well the city absorbs its growing population, the decisions of city leaders and what qualities in a city will be considered important in the future.
Jerry Wade, Fourth Ward City Council representative, thinks affordable housing and an economy comprised of workers with diverse occupations will still be essential.
Wade also thinks there will be further development of arts and culture within the city. “All you need to do is look at the incredible success that Columbia is having with the arts and music festivals,” he says. “Beyond anyone’s expectations.” City leaders plan to tread gently when responding to change in Columbia, whether increased population or new priorities, Wade says.
“All those good things create all kinds of interesting community issues that will have to be dealt with with a lot of careful community planning and very inclusive leadership with lots of participation and involvement on the grassroots level.”
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