Some Hometown Pride (and New Town Pride)
According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the town I grew up in, Holland, MI is the second best city in the nation! (even though they lumped in those losers from Grand Haven) I haven’t lived there in 10 years, but I still make it back twice a year. I’m always surprised to hear anything about my little hometown (though the population figure below makes it sound bigger than it is) that makes national news.
The index is based on “interviews with more than 353,000 Americans during 2009, asked individuals to assess their jobs, finances, physical health, emotional state of mind and communities.” More info in USA Today.
I know the economy is hurting back home, and of the different categories cities are ranked on, Holland is only 31st in “work experience”, but it is still damn impressive! I guess everywhere is hurting, so while it can be kind of depressing seeing all the closed up stores in Holland now compared to a few years ago, it isn’t doing all that bad compared to everywhere else. But what is cool though is that despite the jobs situation back home people still have a better quality of life than anywhere else in the country besides Boulder, CO.
This bit is also interesting:
Overall, the top 10 cities include four in California, two in Utah and one each in Colorado and Hawaii. Of them, only the Holland, Mich., and Washington, D.C., metro areas are located in the Eastern or Central time zones.
I’ve spent most of my life in the two best cities in this half of the nation. Boy, don’t I know how to pick ‘em? DC is #8. Go DC! Go Holland! Yay!!
The top 10:
Boulder, CO 293,161
Holland-Grand Haven, MI 260,364
Honolulu, HI 905,034
Provo-Orem, UT 540,820
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA 466,741
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, CA 405,396
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 1,819,198
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 5,358,130
Ogden-Clearfield, UT 531,488
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 797,740