Time Magazine says Jacksonville . . .

[Bill Hoff]

. . . is the 9th "best big city to live in right now".

Boom:
http://time.com/money/5453709/best-big-cities/

[I-10east]

Jax is so chill. I love it here, and couldn't see myself living anywhere else. It's not a coincidence that Jax keeps on making these positive lists time after time, despite the naysayers. Jax has a 12 year low in unemployment right now. Jax is not perfect, but has made strides to become better each day.

[I-10east]

Out of the top ten cities that Time listed, Jax is 4th in job projection (2017-2022). Austin (10.9 growth rate), Raleigh (9.6), and Mesa, AZ (8.1) are the cities ahead of Jax (7.7) in job projection. Not too shabby.

[Bill Hoff]

Out of the top ten cities that Time listed, Jax is 4th in job projection (2017-2022). Austin (10.9 growth rate), Raleigh (9.6), and Mesa, AZ (8.1) are the cities ahead of Jax (7.7) in job projection. Not too shabby.

It's all those new WaWa's.

[Snaketoz]

I hope all these jobs pay a living wage.  Low unemployment sounds good, but only if those working can afford food, shelter, and transportation.  It is sad that many people work fulltime jobs and can't make ends meet with both adults working.

[Kerry]

Did Time disclose their methodology for composing this list?

[ProjectMaximus]

Did Time disclose their methodology for composing this list?

Technically it is Money magazine, which is the same family. They have a big section at the bottom of the article labelled "METHODOLOGY" so kind of...cause they don't go into specifics.

To create MONEY's Best Big Cities ranking, we looked only at places with populations of 300,000 or greater. We eliminated any city that had more than double the national crime risk, less than 85% of its state's median household income, or a lack of ethnic diversity. We further narrowed the list using more than 8,000 different data points, considering data on each place's economic health, cost of living, public education, income, crime, ease of living, and amenities, all provided by research partner Witlytic. MONEY teamed up with realtor.com to leverage its knowledge of housing markets throughout the country. We put the greatest weight on economic health, public school performance, and local amenities; housing, cost of living, and diversity were also critical components.

Finally, reporters researched each spot, searching for the kinds of intangible factors that aren't revealed by statistics. To ensure a geographically diverse set, we limited the Best Big Cities list to no more than one place per state.

Interesting to note they limited to one metro per state, which means Jax won out for Florida.

[CityLife]

Jax, Miami, and Tampa^ would be the only cities eligible. 


The headline is somewhat deceiving though since the ranking is heavily weighted towards cost of living and housing costs. It should actually be "Best Big Cities to Live on a Budget".

[thelakelander]

The devil is always in the details!

[jax_hwy_engineer]

As much as I like seeing our city's name pop up in lists like this, I know at the heart of it these lists are just clickbait and meaningless. Is there anybody out there who would actually look at an article like this to determine where to live next?

[Bill Hoff]

As much as I like seeing our city's name pop up in lists like this, I know at the heart of it these lists are just clickbait and meaningless. Is there anybody out there who would actually look at an article like this to determine where to live next?

Yes.

[Tacachale]

^Yeah, good press never hurts. Better to be on these lists than not to be (or to be only on the bad ones).

[ProjectMaximus]

As much as I like seeing our city's name pop up in lists like this, I know at the heart of it these lists are just clickbait and meaningless. Is there anybody out there who would actually look at an article like this to determine where to live next?

Yes.

I agree. No, people arent searching for a list, looking at the top rankings and then moving blindly to those cities. But yes, many people I see are researching a number of these lists, forming opinions, and then researching more as they seek a better fit. It's a small piece of a large picture but it is indeed a piece.

[I-10east]

I rather live in a 'budget city' (like Jax, Hou, OKC etc) than some outrageously priced city where you can barely afford a studio apt that takes all of your paycheck; not even in a safe neighborhood cough cough San Fran, NY, Philly etc.

[Kerry]

Many cities pay to get on these lists as well but that isn't disclosed anywhere.  A few years ago Norman, OK came up 2nd on Best Places list and a local reporter looked into and it turned out the local Chamber of Commerce paid $25,000 to be included.  It was discovered that all 25 spots on the list could be bought.

Wish I could find that story again.