DC Area Ranks High on the Quality of Life Scale

• May 24th 2010

by Mark Wellborn

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We are not that big a fan of the various lists that national financial magazines publish, but their popularity is likely keeping many of these publications afloat, so they come out pretty regularly.

This week, however, Portfolio.com put out a well-researched list of metropolitan areas in the U.S. that ranked high on the quality of life scale and the DC area was second just behind Raleigh, NC.

The DC area achieved the ranking because it has the lowest poverty rate for families, the largest concentration of management and professional jobs, and the best percentage of college-educated adults of the 67 metropolitan areas measured. It also had one of the highest share of people that can walk to their job (7.4%) and the third lowest jobless rate (3.7%)

Perhaps the most peculiar stat that DC can lay claim to is the being the area with the highest share of homes with more than nine rooms (thank you, McLean and Potomac!).

Portfolio.com used a 20-part formula to rate each market’s quality of life using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006-2008 American Community Survey that was released last year. For an interactive feature on the other markets that made the list, click here.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc_area_ranks_high_on_the_quality_of_life_scale/2100.