Forbes just lost all credibility…

Chicago #6? Tremendous city with great people. Whoever wrote this has not spent any substantial time there.

we have to move to a much less miserable place. I have my eye on Fargo ND and Trenton NJ.

And so can Teve Torbes.

These things are always way skewed by factors like foreclosures, housing prices, and taxes, and aren’t really any kind of measure of how miserable the people are. It’s basically just Forbes magazine shitting on places that they think are fiscally irresponsible. Not that people enjoy foreclosures, high housing costs, and high taxes, but if you’re trying to make a point about how happy people are with where they live, those are the wrong factors to look at.

As a counter-point, The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is based on actual surveys of people to see how happy they are with where they live (over 350k respondents for the 2010 report). Unsurprisingly to anyone that has lived in multiple regions in this country, the list of “Happiest Cities” is dominated by the West (four of the top ten are in California). Memo to Forbes: people like living in areas that have nice weather, are scenically beautiful, and have a multitude of year-round recreational options available, even if their house is expensive and their taxes are high. People like living in the West. They do not like living in West Virginia.

On this list, Sacramento ranks 56 out of 162 (in the upper third, despite all the shitty financial stuff). Again, the foreclosure and financial stress stuff isn’t trivial, but neither is weather or other factors that have a big impact on people’s day-to-day morale. Forbes’ idea of a miserable city isn’t quite the same as people’s idea of a miserable city.

Where would you most like to be unemployed and miserable?

1. Flint, MI
2. Gary, IN
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Sacramento, CA

And for the reasons cited. I’d much rather be unemployed and miserable in Sacramento and for the reasons cited, than in Flint or Vegas, even.