Spanjer Press Room

Money magazine ranks Fort Collins No. 1 'Best place to live'

By KEVIN DUGGAN
KevinDuggan@coloradoan.com

Fort Collins residents know they have a good thing going here, and the news will soon reach the rest of the country.

Money magazine today will announce Fort Collins as the "Best Place to Live" in America for 2006. The monthly magazine's August edition ranks Fort Collins No. 1 among 745 places with populations greater than 50,000.

Kari Olsen, who grew up in Fort Collins, is featured with her family on the magazine's cover, walking near Horsetooth Reservoir. Olsen, 38, said she and her husband, Dan, moved back to Fort Collins in 1994 from the Midwest.

"We wanted to be here because of the quality of life," said Olsen, who has children ages 13, 11 and 7.

“Just look at the recreation — there is so much to do it's hard to choose what to do.”

Cities nationwide were run through a series of economic screenings for Money's annual listings, including cost of living, employment markets, median income, property taxes and housing prices. Quality-of-life issues such as crime, congestion, public schools and climate also went into the mix while whittling down the list of cities, Money executive editor Craig Matters said.

Fort Collins fared well in most categories and wound up among the 20 highly ranked cities Money reporters visited, Matters said.

In the end, the natural setting, the vibrancy of downtown and the presence of Colorado State University helped put Fort Collins at the top of the magazine's list, he said. The city also outpaced other places in “ease-of-living” measures such as commute times and recreation.

“There is more to living in Fort Collins than comes through when you look just at the numbers,” Matters said.

Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the designation “is richly deserved.”

“I'm delighted,” he said. “This recognizes what I've known for a long time and what many other people who live here know: Fort Collins is a special place.”

Hutchinson and other local officials were interviewed by a Money reporter as part of the process of determining the rankings of cities. Hutchinson also was interviewed by a crew from CNN.

Editors and reporters seemed concerned about the city's economic health, given its budget problems — the city is looking at a $6.8 million shortfall for 2007 — and the impact job cuts in high-tech industries had on the community, Hutchinson said.

But they also seemed satisfied with explanations of how the city plans to deal with its challenges.

Those issues are mentioned in the Money article, although it primarily focuses on what are considered the city's pluses: Old Town, Poudre School District schools, a solid employment base outside of high-tech companies, and recreation.

City Council member Kelly Ohlson called the designation a “double-edged sword.”

“It's nice to be recognized as a quality community, but that recognition could end up threatening our quality of life,” he said.

Ohlson said past city councils worked hard to preserve the city's quality of life through policies aimed at managing growth and preserving open space, efforts that weren't always supported by some in the business community.

“I find it ironic that the people who will be most excited about this recognition are in many cases the same people who opposed the policies that made it possible,” he said.

Doug Johnson, vice president of First Western Trust Bank, and his family also are featured in the article. Johnson, his wife, Becky, and their twin 5-year-old sons are pictured eating ice cream in Old Town.

Johnson, 34, said he enjoyed showing Money's reporter and photographer around the area.

“Fort Collins is such a great community, I'm glad to play a part in promoting it,” he said.

National exposure from the ranking is likely to increase the number of contacts local business associations have with companies that might be considering setting up shop here, said J.J. Johnston, president and chief executive officer of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp.

These types of rankings make a difference with some companies, he said, especially if quality of life is high on their list of priorities. The area also is attractive because of its highly educated work force and educational opportunities.

“You can't buy advertising like this,” he said.

The annual “best places to live” feature has appeared in Money for many years, Matters said. Last year, the magazine focused on prime suburban areas. The rankings and associated data available online proved so popular that editors decided to expand to small cities.

The goal was to highlight communities of less than 300,000 residents that are not dependent on metropolitan areas for jobs, arts and entertainment venues, and recreation, he said.

A separate list in Money's August issue ranks Colorado Springs at the top of 10 best places to live among cities with more than 300,000 people.

Two other Colorado cities made Money's top 90 for cities under 300,000: Westminster, at No. 24, and Longmont, at No. 61.

Fort Collins has been featured before in national publications as a prime place to retire, raise children and start a small business.

Last year, the city made Outside magazine's list as a “dream town” to live and work in part because of the area's abundant recreational opportunities.

National attention gives communities something to “crow” about, Matters said, but it doesn't necessarily attract more people or businesses to those communities.

“We are not a leading indicator, we are following,” he said. “People already know these are great places to live.”

Originally published July 17, 2006 in The Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper