America’s

A RANKING OF U.S. PLACE EQUITY 2020

The top 100 U.S. cities to live, work and visit

The Performance of America’s Best Cities: The Methodology — 06 Pc Pd Po Ps Pg Pm America’s Top 100 Cities Profiles — 08

America’s Best Cities Performance by Category — 52 BESTCITIES.ORG October 22 – 24, 2020

The world’s first virtual cities festival

An around-the-world, three-day interactive gathering of urban citizens, creative entrepreneurs and placemakers empowering our global cities.

Learn more at WRLDCTY.COM WELCOME TO THE 2020 RANKING OF AMERICA’S BEST CITIES

Resonance Consultancy is building the most comprehensive city rankings on the planet. Here’s why this matters now more than ever.

As leading advisors in tourism, real estate and economic incorporate user-generated data to quantify the number of development for more than a decade, our team has quality restaurants, shops, nightlife, and other experiences conducted extensive research on the rise of cities, the key that make urban living so alluring. trends propelling this growth and the factors that shape our Based on the data we have collected over the past five perception of urban centers as desirable places to live, visit years, we know that a city’s performance for factors such as and invest. Facebook check-ins, Instagram hashtags, recommended The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us and our cities in culinary experiences, museums, nightlife, culture and ways none of us have ever experienced before. It’s caused us shopping have some of the highest correlations with not to reexamine and rethink the way we’ll want to live, work and only the number of visitors a city receives, but investment play in the future. If there is one thing that social distancing and economic growth as well. Rebooting this software of has taught us, it’s that the shared spaces we were asked urban experiences will be as important as improvements to to close and avoid, from parks and restaurants to sporting the hardware in terms of investments in infrastructure when venues, museums and galleries, are what we cherish most it comes to a city’s recovery from this crisis. about the cities we live in or love to visit. The rankings for these experiential factors reflect the The nation’s large cities—with MSA populations of more than performance of cities for each of these metrics prior to the half a million people—face imminent and myriad challenges crisis. No doubt some restaurants, shops and other unique that will define their next decade and beyond. local experiences will not survive the loss in clientele and revenue that the COVID-19 lockdown has wrought and the Just take two obvious and looming but diametrically opposed results a year from now may vary significantly from one inevitabilities: flight from the perceived density danger city to the next. Our data will continue providing a unique of pandemic-stricken cities by those with the means, and perspective to quantify the impact the crisis has had on cities the rising homeless population due to unprecedented from an experiential point of view. unemployment and inability to afford housing. But survive they will, and some will even thrive—the most American cities would be flattened by just one of those tsunamis, likely candidates being those that sit atop these rankings. We never mind three or four barrelling down simultaneously. To say hope this report will inspire you to celebrate and rediscover a reinvention is upon us is an understatement. these American urban centers in the months to come. To capture this reality in our rankings—now in their fifth To discuss how Resonance can help enhance the prosperity year—we have also expanded and evolved. We have added of your city or community, please get in touch. three new factors to our ranking. For our Prosperity category, we have added the unemployment rate of a city (as of May 2020, the latest numbers available at press time) and the Gini Index of Income Equality. In our Place category, we added the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (as of July 8, 2020) for each city. While this Best Cities ranking incorporates standard metrics for factors such as the three new ones above, as well as our Chris Fair, President & CEO standards like weather, crime and household incomes, what Resonance Consultancy distinguishes our methodology from all others is that we also [email protected]

RESONANCECO.COM 03 THE AMERICAN CITY IS OUR BLUEPRINT FOR REBIRTH

Our recovery will be local and starts with our cities. Resonance and AFAR are proud to bring you the stories of urban recovery—and discovery.

What will a post-COVID-19 world look like? Will we still shake This isn’t just a time for small businesses to shine; it’s also a hands, kiss cheeks and hug strangers? Will we be quick to moment for American cities. But where are those cities? And board planes—or wary, with masks on and hand sanitizer at how do they excel and stand out? Resonance Consultancy’s the ready? Coronavirus has upended our collective days, and list of America’s Best Cities is your primer. The 2020 our futures, in ways we can’t even fathom yet. At the time this report showcases the best cities across the country with letter is published, I may feel differently than I do as I write it. metropolitan populations of 500,000 or greater—where a But at AFAR Media, where I serve as digital content director, high quality of life extends beyond incomes and infrastructure we’re committed to staying home as long as required, and to include a dynamic culture fueled by a diverse, creative continue to cover the pandemic as avid travelers are inclined community. Once you discover these cities, you’ll want to to do: with empathy, a desire to support our neighbors, and return again and again—and some may never want to leave. a willingness to see the big picture. We are, truly, all in this Where can you find this list? Check out AFAR.com, which together, in an unprecedented way. is proud to be the exclusive editorial partner of Resonance Once we finally leave our front yards for something more than Consultancy for America’s Best Cities and the World’s Best a grocery run, I expect we’ll tiptoe into the world: We’ll check Cities, released this October. Let’s rediscover what’s in our out the neighborhood first—the local parks and beaches, our own backyard. beloved shops and cafés—but also that Ethiopian restaurant we’d eyed but never tried, or the awning with the bad font that we previously ignored. We’ll be travelers in our own towns. As our orbit expands to include much-missed family and friends, we’ll wander the region, driving to places like overlooked local wine regions in lieu of our canceled trip to Tuscany. We’ll tentatively plan road trips, weekend getaways— Laura Dannen Redman and we’ll crave inspiration, feeling like a shop sign that once Digital Content Director, AFAR Media said “The World Is Closed” now reads “Open for Business!” Where should we go? Better still: How can we help with the dollars we spend?

RESONANCECO.COM 04 THE GETTY CENTER, LOSTHE GETTY ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

CONTENTS

The Performance of America’s Best Cities: The Methodology — 06 America’s Top 100 Cities Profiles — 08 America’s Best Cities Performance by Category — 52 THE PERFORMANCE OF AMERICA’S BEST CITIES: THE METHODOLOGY

Resonance Consultancy ranks American cities (principal cities of metropolitan areas with populations of more than 500,000) by using a combination of statistical performance and qualitative evaluations by locals and visitors in 26 areas grouped into six core categories. Principal cities are defined as the largest city in each metropolitan statistical area.

THE SIX CORE CATEGORIES

Pc PLACE Po PEOPLE Pg PROGRAMMING

Pd PRODUCT Ps PROSPERITY Pm PROMOTION

Pc PLACE Pd PRODUCT

Our most layered category quantifies a city’s physical This is a ranking of the “hardware” of a city—often the sense of place. To score a city within our Place category, most difficult metric for cities to get right. Our product we evaluate the perceived quality of its natural and built category studies a city’s key institutions, attractions and environments. From how often the sun shines to the infrastructure. A city’s infrastructure and institutions safety of the streets, several readily measurable, oft-cited shape its identity via the quantity, quality and reputation factors influence our perceptions. of these “products.” Expensive and difficult to develop Weather Average number of sunny days (National and maintain, exceptional, recognizable products are Climatic Data Center, Weatherbase) often found only in large, cosmopolitan cities. Safety Violent crime rate (U.S. Federal Bureau Airport Connectivity Number of direct destinations of Investigation) served by the city’s airports (Google Flights) Sights & Landmarks Number of quality points of interest, Attractions Number of quality attractions recommended neighborhoods and landmarks recommended by locals by locals and visitors (TripAdvisor.com) and visitors (TripAdvisor.com) Museums Number of quality museums and arts institutions Parks & Outdoors Number of quality parks and recommended by locals and visitors (TripAdvisor.com) outdoor activities recommended by locals and visitors University Ranking Score of the top local university (TripAdvisor.com) (U.S. News & World Report, Best National Universities) COVID-19 Infections Number of COVID-19 cases per Convention Center Size of the largest convention center 100,000 (county level data, retrieved July 8, 2020) (official convention center website) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Professional Sports Teams Number of major league sports teams (multiple sources)

RESONANCECO.COM 06 Po PEOPLE Ps PROSPERITY

The more diverse a city’s population, the more it A well-paid, economically secure citizenry facilitates produces global ideas… on a local scale. Human capital stewardship and innovation. In general, beliefs about the is often a city’s most valuable resource. To evaluate the wealth and prosperity of a city are shaped by statistics relative strength of human capital from one city to the such as the income of citizens, the standard of living next, we consider the diversity of the city’s population— and the presence or absence of large, recognizable something of proven importance when it comes to corporations—despite the fact that start-ups and attracting talent. innovation increasingly drive a city’s development and Foreign-Born Residents Percentage of foreign-born economic growth. residents (U.S. Census, American Community Survey) Fortune 500 Companies Number of Fortune 500 Educational Attainment Percentage of the population corporate headquarters (Fortune.com) with a bachelor’s degree or higher (U.S. Census, American Household Income Median household income Community Survey) (U.S. Census, American Community Survey) Employment Unemployment rate following the COVID-19 lockdowns (May 2020; Bureau of Labor Statistics) Income Equality The city’s Gini Index, a simple measure of the distribution of income across income percentiles in a population (U.S. Census, American Community Survey)

Pg PROGRAMMING Pm PROMOTION

This category measures the experiential pillars of a great A city’s ability to tell its story (and help others do the visit: food, shows, shopping and nightlife. If our Product same) depends on how it incentivizes and rewards category is the “hardware” of cities and destinations, sharing of experiences by locals and visitors. The number the mosaic of cultural programming and lifestyle and frequency of media coverage, online articles, experiences they offer is the “software” that makes references and place-based recommendations influence them run—including the subcategories of Shopping, our perception of cities, whether the news is good or Culture, Dining and Nightlife. While such programming bad. Today, residents, businesses and visitors promote a initiatives are individually insignificant, their sum fosters city to the world more than city marketers or chambers a community’s connection to place. of commerce. Resonance ranks a city’s Promotion Culture Number of quality performing arts and cultural performance based on the number of stories, references experiences recommended by locals and visitors and recommendations shared online about that city. (TripAdvisor.com) Facebook Check-ins Number of Facebook check-ins Nightlife Number of quality nightlife experiences (Facebook.com) recommended by locals and visitors (TripAdvisor.com) Google Search Number of Google search results Dining Number of quality restaurants and culinary (Google.com) experiences recommended by locals and visitors TripAdvisor Reviews Number of TripAdvisor reviews (TripAdvisor.com) (TripAdvisor.com) Shopping Number of quality shopping experiences Instagram Hashtags Most Instagrammed city recommended by locals and visitors (TripAdvisor.com) (Instagram.com) Google Trends Popularity on Google Trends in the past 12 months (Trends.Google.com)

RESONANCECO.COM 07 MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, NEW YORK America’s stage of human innovation. Their citizens will gather gather will Their citizens stage innovation. human of the badges of American ingenuity. Yes, they’ve they’ve Yes, badgesthe American of ingenuity. problems institutional stalled, nationwide exposing manifesting on their streets and in their hospitals their and in streets on their manifesting

and senior homes. But they’re also leading—like they also leading—likeand senior they homes. But they’re have—the recovery and future-definingalways next wealth global culture, the and creating colliding again, and American defines energy that global zeitgeist. the

PROFILES

CITIES TOP 100 American cities are the engines of the nation and engines nation the the of American are cities VESSEL IN HUDSON YARDS PUBLIC SQUARE POPULATION 1 METRO 19,979,477 NEW YORK NY

HIGHLIGHTS America’s urban heart was its enormity. Today, its square footage 1 PLACE broken by the pandemic has been transformed into a 1,200-bed field hospital, with room, if necessary, and has a long way back. for 2,900. 1 PROMOTION A year ago, we went on gaily about Here we are, on July 8, writing a story how New York was reinventing about America’s Best City. Number one. shopping, with the mall of the future For the fourth year in a row. at Hudson Yards and Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus vying for supremacy It’s a grim time to be first. As cases in the chic city. This year, in the #1 spiked in March and April, Gotham shopping city in America, there is became the nation’s coronavirus no breakfast at Tiffany’s. nightmarish epicenter. Statewide, more than 18,000 COVID-19 patients were New York, to the surprise of no one, in hospitals at one point in April. Daily ranks first for Fortune 500 companies in deaths peaked at 799 in April, and have the U.S. And that is part of the enduring totaled over 24,000. As of July 8, the city allure of the city—the magical thinking ranked last—#100—in our Number of that if you hustled hard enough, anyone COVID-19 cases per 100,000. could be persuaded to meet with you, that the entrepreneur sitting next to you A few short months ago, all the data at WeWork might just be the next big made sense. While New York ranks just thing, and you might be part of it—and 11th for the size of its convention center, you, you of all people, can make it here, the Jacob. K. Javits Center was in the just like the song promises. process of being renovated to twice

THE STANDARD HIGH LINE HOTEL

RESONANCECO.COM 09 MANHATTAN BRIDGE

and a dozen other restaurants around New York is #3 in our Attractions the world, creator of the Ugly Delicious subcategory, those places that show, said he thought delivery would irresistibly draw humanity from around come to dominate slowly, over a decade the world. In the past decade, New or more, and now it is upon us. Speaking York has enjoyed dizzying increases with the New York Times, he surveyed in tourism arrivals, and 64.2 million the eclipsed scene in despair. “I’m not visitors jostled with locals last year, a being hyperbolic in any way,” he said. record. Now, as New York curmudgeon “We have ingredients that if you don’t Fran Lebowitz moaned to Michael sell, they literally deteriorate. It’s the Schulman in the New Yorker, “For at most exposed business. There’s a lot of least 20 years, I have been dreaming of successful chefs I know who have five to the time there were no tourists in Times nine days left of money. And then what Square. Now there are no tourists in do you do? I don’t know.” Times Square, but, of course, there’s no one in Times Square.” Nobody knows, of course, which is the terrible crux of the matter. New York Nobody knows when any of this ends, is, above all, a gathering place where but New York knows a thing or two about brains and bodies in indecent proximity coming back from terrible brinks. 9/11 is to one another create the sparks of more than a vague memory. SARS came genius, invention, progress. Now, at 7 and went. However the world emerges, p.m., pots and pans clang in unison as evolves or pivots out of our collective New Yorkers stand alone on their stoops force majeure, it will happen here first. and balconies. New York is, after all, #1. In New York, you shake hands (shake hands!), two humans pressing flesh in the mutual interest of apprising the potential of one to advance the other. Right now, in the storied Financial District, only the stock market moves, sometimes wildly. In America’s top-ranked city for culture, the MOMA is helping parents teach art from home with “family art-making activities in English and Español,” and the Metropolitan Opera is streaming performances nightly. Streaming is the new being there, and takes the edge off our hunger for sports and our craving for the soul-opening power of art. We watch the screen and can still hear the roar of a goal—any goal—at the buzzer, still feel the frisson of walking into the red velvet–lined jewel box that is the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, gazing up at the vast Chagalls, watching the dazzling crowd. With Broadway still officially shut down, the district where the show must go on is shuttered, a drama. In the city that never sleeps, #1 for nightlife, night owls order delivery and dream fitfully at home, pivoting to an abnormal new normal. New York restaurants, #2 in the country, pivoted faster than most businesses, almost instantly becoming take-out and delivery operations wherever it was humanly possible. Food world icon Dave Chang, chef of Momofuku Noodle Bar

THE NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM

RESONANCECO.COM 10 VIEW OF DOWNTOWN FROM THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN POPULATION 2 METRO 13,291,486 LOS ANGELES CA

HIGHLIGHTS Los Angeles keeps breaking spots. The COVID-19 outbreak has 2 PROGRAMMING tourism records as it launched L.A.—and Mayor Eric Garcetti—into the spotlight. The city unveils one multi-billion- was the first metropolis in the country 2 PROMOTION dollar infrastructure to demand almost full closure, “and the project after another. biggest city to go to full closure of all nonessential businesses,” the mayor pointed out recently. Combine that Los Angeles has always had “star” foresight with California’s fast action power, but when Michelin announced in on lockdowns, and L.A. is positioned to June 2019 that 24 Greater Los Angeles come back brighter. area restaurants had been awarded Its cultural and culinary leaders—so with its most prestigious accolade in willing to step up and declare the city its inaugural Michelin Guide California open for business after a series of selection, it suddenly meant more than natural disasters, helping the city rank just A-listers and cinema cachet. Indeed, #2 in our Promotion category—will be of the seven new two-star distinctions called upon again soon. They’ll do their in the Guide, six are in L.A., further best to keep their city’s #2 ranking in cementing its standing as “the Most the subcategory of Facebook Check- Exciting Food City in America.” ins and #3 for Instagram Hashtags and Of course all that means little when Google Trends. Anything to get the City sheltering in place has shuttered of Angels off the ground. hundreds of the city’s exciting dining

VENICE BEACH

RESONANCECO.COM 11 LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

“Los Angeles is a literal melting pot Los Angeles ranks #2 in the nation of talent with chefs hailing from a in our Museums category, which is mosaic of cultures who are open to exemplified by a blossoming of cultural experimentation and innovation. Mix in institutions under development or access to the country’s best produce opening soon. For example, a public art and an audience of Angelenos who project called Destination Crenshaw celebrate creativity and you’ve got L.A.’s is being built by and for the African formula for being the most exciting food American community along the newest city,” said Stacey Sun, executive director Metro rail line, which runs the iconic of the city’s dineL.A. program, which Crenshaw Boulevard. The 1.3-mile-long celebrates L.A.’s thriving global culinary outdoor art and culture experience will scene through two annual restaurant display works of Black artists centered week programs, Winter dineL.A. and on the themes of activism and history. Summer dineL.A. Unsurprisingly, L.A. And construction was scheduled to nabs the top spot in our Restaurants begin this year in Koreatown for the category for 2020. first permanent location of the Korean American National Museum, where the Speaking of food, when it opens— mission is to preserve and interpret eventually—on Olvera Street at LA the history, experiences, culture and Plaza Village, LA Plaza Cocina will be achievements of Americans from Korean the first museum and teaching kitchen ancestry. Designed by local architecture dedicated to Mexican food. Through an firm Morphosis, the venue’s interior will array of exhibitions, cooking classes, feature a fluid, interconnected ring of lectures, workshops and culinary galleries, meeting rooms and offices festivals, the multidisciplinary venue styled to echo the classic courtyard plan aims to educate visitors and celebrate of a traditional Korean hanok. Mexico’s culinary heritage. Sports fans in the city will finally get to experience the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium at Hollywood Park when the complex opens in... the coming months. Billed as the future of sports and entertainment, the venue will house the Los Angeles Chargers and the 2019 NFC Conference champion Los Angeles Rams. The state-of-the-art, open-air stadium will also host Super Bowl LVI in 2022, the College Football National Championship game in 2023 and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Olympics. Los Angeles ranks second only to New York for Professional Sports Teams in the nation. Breathing new life into neighborhoods from DTLA to Hollywood is a slew of new boutique hotels, most with chef- led dining programs. There’s the freshly minted Hoxton LA, for example, set in a transformed 1925 building that was once the headquarters of the L.A. Railway Authority. Another 13 new hotels were set to open in the next two years, before the COVID-19 outbreak, including a new project from Grupo Habita—the hotel group has developed some of the hippest hotels in Mexico, Chicago and New York—that takes over a 109-year-old brick warehouse in the Arts District and transforms it with modern accommodations, a rooftop lounge, garden and pool.

ROOFTOP POOL AT THE HOXTON

RESONANCECO.COM 12 TRANSAMERICA PYRAMID SEEN FROM THE BENCH OF PIER 7 POPULATION 3 METRO 4,729,484 SAN FRANCISCO CA

HIGHLIGHTS Job opportunities and No wonder it ranks #2 nationally in our 2 PEOPLE infrastructure buildout pave People category, including #3 for post- secondary educated residents and #4 the way in San Francisco. for foreign-born residents. 5 PROGRAMMING It’s just that the world that The promise of high salaries means a so readily rushed in for torrent of global workers fuel the city’s work, study and tourism ambition and ideas, ranking it #7 in must wait to do so for now. the nation in our Prosperity category, including #2 for Household Income and #4 for Fortune 500 Companies. San Francisco has embraced seekers Where it does slip is in its #57-ranked since the Gold Rush days, when, unemployment rate and poor finish (#98) seemingly overnight, people came in the Gini Index of Income Equality. from Asia and Europe, from across the The Bay Area’s entrepreneurialism continent and from the other side of is uniquely connected to its world- the world for their shot at the California renowned universities, with Stanford Dream. Along the way, these immigrants University and the University have sowed the seeds for the city’s open- of California, Berkeley, able to minded attitude toward, well, everything. accommodate local knowledge and The result is a place that doesn’t just skills gaps and broker funding for welcome differences, but actually nascent start-ups. Education and capital encourages and celebrates them. are rarely an issue for the right idea.

LOMBARD STREET

RESONANCECO.COM 13 MOSCONE CENTER

were added, will have to wait. The iconic space, along with SFMOMA and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, was closed in March. But the city’s precautions are not surprising, given its well-documented attempt at inclusivity and taking care of its own. It’s worth noting that the city ranks #18 in our Number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 nationally subcategory, one of the lowest totals in our Top 10. Even before COVID-19 descended on the city, the challenge of homeless residents was being taken up not only by the governor and city officials, but by the city’s destination marketing organization as well. “We’re the city of St. Francis, and if we don’t lead on this, then shame on us,” said Joe D’Alessandro, CEO of San Francisco Travel. “As a DMO we’re taking a leading role on this. We are asking for more security on the street, for mental health housing and safety for our LGBTQ population. In our city, 50% of homeless youth are LGBTQ who left home because of the abuse they endured. We are lobbying and talking to elected officials, to private companies and chambers— The inflow of people into San Francisco costs for the procurement and looking for small fixes until we can figure is why SFO, the city’s airport, is a hive of installation of public art in their spaces. it out federally.” renovation and innovation. The all-time At the Moscone Center, this has resulted record of 57.8 million passengers in in four new art installations, including With that kind of local support, the city 2018 was almost reached again in 2019 PointCloud, a light installation by Bay won’t be down for long. (with 57.6 million) and will continue to be Bridge light designer Leo Villareal. His bested in the coming years, particularly installation has been incorporated into with the opening of the new Grand the new East Bridge, which connects Hyatt, SFO’s first on-airport hotel. Moscone North and South. Not surprisingly, San Francisco ranks #4 in The city has also had a strong showing our Convention Center subcategory. for conventions and meetings at the newly expanded Moscone Center, The City by the Bay continued to be which is walking distance to hotels, coveted by tourists in 2019, with 26.2 restaurants, museums, attractions and million visiting, 1.4% more compared public transit and now features more to 2018 and a new record, topping off than 170,000 gross square feet of a decade of year-over-year growth. meeting space, as well as an enclosed But not all is golden. Despite massive pedestrian bridge above Howard Street. plans for 2020, including monumental anniversaries like Golden Gate Park’s “This state-of-the-art facility exemplifies 150th and San Francisco Pride turning our commitment to sustainability, 50, the COVID-19 outbreak has shredded creates new flexible-use convention the festivities. Even the powerhouse and tourism spaces and supports the Golden State Warriors were wounded neighborhood with a host of new design when their inaugural season at the and open-space improvements,” said spectacular Chase Center was cut short. Mayor London Breed. The Asian Art Museum’s impressive Indeed, budgets for new public expansion, in which 13,000 square feet buildings and civic improvements here of additional exhibition space and a must set aside 2% of gross construction 7,500-square-foot rooftop art terrace

CHINATOWN

RESONANCECO.COM 14 POPULATION 4 METRO 9,497,790 CHICAGO IL

VIEW OF DOWNTOWN FROM OHIO STREET BEACH HIGHLIGHTS

2 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES

3 PROGRAMMING

America’s great Midwest metropolis has an abundance of programming and culture, with the deep infrastructure and affordability that eludes many cities.

Few American cities fell harder in visitor numbers in recent months than Chicago. Whether for business or pleasure, the city had been attracting tourism at record-breaking levels year after year. Indeed, when Mayor Rahm for large cities in the country, including architectural bounty, may or may not Emanuel took the city’s top job in 2011, Top 3 in the subcategories of Google open on time amidst the outbreak. an estimated 39 million people had Trends, Google Search and Facebook Another cultural success story for the visited Chicago. By the time he wrapped Check-ins—is not enough to draw city is Art on theMART, which bills itself up his final term in 2019, that number tourists on its own. In the last few years, as the largest permanent digital art had ballooned to nearly 58 million the Windy City pursued and acquired projection in the world and features visitors—an impressive tourism feat and some big-ticket draws, including the contemporary artwork across the perhaps the biggest success story of NFL Draft, the James Beard Foundation 2.5-acre river-facing facade of theMART. Emanuel’s mayoral tenure. “We didn’t Awards and the Laver Cup. It also Some 32,000 people attended the just ride the national wave; we’re ahead bolstered tourist-friendly attractions like launch event in September 2018. “We of it,” Emanuel said last year. “No city has the Riverwalk and events that showcase are already becoming an integral part seen that kind of exponential growth.” Chicago’s craft beer scene. Its #3 of the cultural fabric of the city and an ranking in our Programming category— Shortly after taking office, Emanuel had iconic public art platform that amplifies including #2 in the subcategories of his team do a “top to bottom scrub” what is important to Chicagoans and the Culture and Nightlife, behind only NYC— of the tourism industry, which led to world,” noted Cynthia Noble, executive speaks to the plentiful buzz that Chicago fixing problems that had been plaguing director of Art on theMART. It’s no was perfecting before everything the city’s premier convention center, wonder Chicago ranks in the Top 10 in ground to a halt. an “under-performing McCormick our deep Place category, which includes Place,” and streamlined various Meanwhile, seven hotels debuted #3 for Sights and Landmarks and #11 for entities responsible for marketing in the past year—in the city’s central Parks & Outdoors. the city into one office, Choose business district alone. Among them In the not-too-distant future, the Chicago. Recently redesigned, the was the 21c Museum Hotel Chicago, Obama Presidential Center—to be tourism website generated more which combines a 297-room boutique set in Jackson Park—will become a than 6.3 million visits in the first eight hotel and multi-venue contemporary marquee attraction on Chicago’s South months of 2019, a 10.7% year-over- art museum with an independently Side. “I think President Obama’s library year increase. Not bad. By the time branded, chef-driven restaurant. can do for tourism what McCormick Emanuel left office, the city reported The much-anticipated Japanese- Place has done for business travel in that more than 22,000 tourism-related inspired Nobu Hotel Chicago, originally the city,” Emanuel noted during his jobs had been added. Not bad at all. scheduled to open in mid 2020 time as mayor. The city’s #5 ranking for The city’s digital resonance—which with its rooftop lounge perch and Museums among the country’s large finished #3 in our Promotion category view of America’s most spectacular cities will surely improve as a result.

RESONANCECO.COM 15 POPULATION 5 METRO 6,251,240 WASHINGTON DC

HIGHLIGHTS near Reagan National Airport known up its museum game further, with 3 PEOPLE as Crystal City. The jobs will improve plenty of new cultural heavyweights D.C.’s already impressive #3 ranking just opened or on the horizon. in our Prosperity category, powered The Kennedy Center’s $175-million 3 PROSPERITY by its #3 spot for Household Income expansion project, the REACH, opened in the country and #6 for Fortune 500 to the public in late 2019, boasting Companies. It also boasted impressive 72,000 square feet of performance unemployment numbers, ranking #11 and events space, 130,000 square feet nationally and best in our Top 10. Ditto Power meets play in of landscaping and gardens, terrace for its impressive #15 ranking for Gini seating for up to 1,600 people and America’s intriguing Index of Income Equality. a scenic walkway leading to nearby capital city. In explaining its decision for its HQ2 monuments and memorials. location, Amazon sources cited Before the COVID-19 outbreak, 2020 being able to “recruit more top The ubiquity of the U.S. capital in was going to be one of the busiest ever talent.” Indeed, Washington, D.C., dramas on screens small and large (to for D.C. development, with Capitol ranks #2 for residents with a post- say nothing of the real-life stuff) has Hill’s the Roost, a 12,500-square-foot secondary education—a pipeline of escalated its resonance in the zeitgeist community-based food hall, kicking future Amazon talent for years. and helped propel it to the cusp of the things off. Another culinary mixed-use Top 5 large cities in the nation. The The city also scores well (#4 in the hub, the West Half, near Yards Park, winning of Amazon’s coveted HQ2 in country) for its free museums—from is also planned to open later this year nearby Arlington, Virginia, dominated the two Smithsonians (Natural History and will feature views of Major League local chatter last year—the 25,000 jobs and the National Air and Space Baseball’s Nationals Park and include a created will be located in what Amazon Museum) to the sprawling National brewery, cafés and local grocery store. calls National Landing, a newly minted Gallery of Art. But D.C. is stepping An incredible third community food place brand for the neighborhood hub is scheduled for Ward 7, two blocks away from the Minnesota Avenue metro station, and will be home to Market 7, powered by a variety of Black-owned businesses including a grocer and retail installations by local makers. The jewel in the city’s culinary crown in 2020 is the $250-million River Point, two blocks from Audi Field, between Capitol Riverfront and the Wharf, with piers, waterfront activity and new restaurants that include a veggie-friendly eatery by James Beard–winning chef Spike Gjerde. Meanwhile, the massive Wharf, a $2.5-billion mixed-use development, inches closer to its 2022 opening date, giving the U.S. capital fresh office, residential, marina and retail space, as well as parks and public spaces, across an approximate half mile of the Potomac riverfront. Given that the area is already home to more than 20 restaurants— paired with the culinary accolades given of late to D.C.’s already-burgeoning food scene, its middling #17 ranking for Restaurants (and #16 for overall Programming) will be sure to hit Top 10 in the coming years.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT

RESONANCECO.COM 16 POPULATION 6 METRO 3,343,364 SAN DIEGO CA

HIGHLIGHTS ranking in our deep Place category— $30 million to this endeavor, the largest 2 PLACE with Top 10 finishes for safety, quality of single gift the San Diego Zoo has ever neighborhoods and outdoors. And, of received. Designed in ways to help course, there’s its weather. San Diego children develop empathy and better 5 RESTAURANTS is as naturally endowed as any place understand and identify with wildlife, has a right to be—its sublime 263 full this reimagined 2.3-acre space will and partly sunny days annually help feature four ecosystems and more place it at #7 in the nation, while the than 100 species, giving kids greater Southern California’s urban 23 beaches—70 miles of them—within opportunities to discover the natural the city limits make it synonymous with world through play. Unsurprisingly, San ideal offers free sunshine SoCal surf culture. Diego trails only Miami in our Parks & Outdoors subcategory. and keeps a good thing After a festive 2019 celebrating its going—across two borders. 250th, the city is now pausing somewhat Then there’s the uniquely fluid cultural to reap the fruits of a torrid few years identity of the city: the Cross Border of development. Of course, with the Xpress (CBX) links San Diego with You could say that San Diego is where COVID-19 outbreak and California’s Tijuana and services more than 6,000 California began. It was here that stringent shelter-in-place orders, San ticketed airline passengers daily. CBX Spanish settlers established the region’s Diegans don’t really have a choice. was designed to streamline international very first mission in 1769—251 years ago, travel as the first-ever U.S. facility to on a hillside overlooking what is now When they do get back out of the connect directly into a foreign airport known as Old Town San Diego. house and into their beloved city, they’ll terminal. Designed in conjunction beeline for the famous eponymous Two and a half centuries later, this city with the U.S. Department of Customs zoo—which is one year closer to the of 1.4 million (with an MSA population and Border Protection, the 390-foot- opening of its $69-million children’s approaching 3.5 million) is one of long enclosed pedestrian skybridge zoo, to be named after Denny Sanford, a the fastest-growing in the U.S. Its #2 connects a state-of-the-art passenger San Diego philanthropist who donated building in San Diego directly to the Tijuana International Airport (TIJ). This December, CBX will celebrate its fifth year of service. The kinetic symbiosis of the U.S. and Mexico pulses here like in no other American city. Just look to Border X Brewery in the Barrio Logan neighborhood, and its year-long quest to create new flavors of beers reflecting seven regions in Mexico. The city also just marked 50 years since the founding of Chicano Park, a site of protests and community activism that is now home to the world’s largest collection of Chicano murals. The polycultural immersion is palpable— especially at Liberty Station, home to El Jardín, the two-year-old home of Top Chef contestant Claudette Zepeda- Wilkins and her regional Mexican fare, refined and reinterpreted with both indigenous Mexican ingredients and local produce alongside an extensive selection of tequila and mezcal. The city’s impressive Top 5 finish for Restaurants will only improve in such good hands.

OCEAN FRONT WALK AT MISSION BEACH

RESONANCECO.COM 17 POPULATION 7 METRO 2,231,647 LAS VEGAS NV

MURAL IN THE ARTS DISTRICT ON FREMONT STREET HIGHLIGHTS

1 WEATHER

1 ATTRACTIONS

This pulsing destination has never been quieter in a COVID-19 reality. Its resilience and response will define it for decades.

The story of Las Vegas blossoming into a “real city” has usually been told of late with breathless praise for its economic success. Tourism—the number one economic driver for Southern Nevada—has long paid for Las Vegas’ roads, parks, school construction and teachers’ salaries. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), more than 41% of Southern Nevadans are employed directly or indirectly because of tourism. Indeed, this tourist town is increasingly more livable every year, and even downtown has become a destination for locals and cred-seeking visitors, with Two decades of no fewer than 35 million Certainly the best weather in the public spaces hosting art activations annual visitors, including the two most country and an impressive #6 for its and events. Repurposed brick buildings recent record-setting years of 42 million- Parks & Outdoors will help Sin City seed serve as austere, unsigned restaurants, a plus, were over. #VegasStrong was local activity and regional travel, the bet by chef Natalie Young that has paid dealt another blow, not from the barrel vital baby steps to restarting after the off for dozens of other entrepreneurs of an automatic weapon but by an screeching halt that the tourism industry and restaurateurs since 2015. invisible killer. was dealt by the outbreak. But this single reliance on the visitor Not surprisingly, Vegas finished With mind-boggling infrastructure economy also means that the COVID- last among all Top 100 cities in our on the books and needing to be 19 outbreak has decimated Las Vegas Employment Rate subcategory. completed this year—from the Allegiant like few other American cities. When Stadium, the 65,000-seat home of the Governor Steve Sisolak took the Perhaps the city’s pursuit of transforming relocated Raiders franchise, to Elon unprecedented step of ordering every into a hometown will accelerate its Musk’s the Boring Company and its casino and gaming operation—the rebound as the lockdown begins to lift. ongoing construction on subterranean lifeblood of the state’s economy—to shut If there is a silver lining for locals, it’s transit underneath the new Las Vegas down by midnight, March 17, citizens that they’ll have the nation’s #4-ranked Convention Center (itself scheduled to were thrust into an unimaginable Programming, including #3 in Culture, open by the end of 2020, pre-crisis)—the financial crisis. Overnight, hundreds of #4 in Nightlife and #8 in Restaurants, all city won’t be down for long. thousands were furloughed or lost their to themselves for a few months, all while jobs outright. Lucrative events like the helping fellow citizens put in the reps to 2020 NFL draft were cancelled. once again host the world.

RESONANCECO.COM 18 POPULATION 8 METRO 1,999,107 SAN JOSE CA

PALM TREES IN DOWNTOWN SAN JOSE HIGHLIGHTS

1 HOUSEHOLD INCOME

1 PEOPLE

Talent, smarts and money are a potent mix that’s given San Jose—the largest city in Northern California in terms of area and population— the highest household income in America.

It’s fascinating what a well-educated, well-paid and diverse population can do for a city’s rankings. In the case of San Jose, the economic, cultural and political capital of Silicon Valley, it’s everything, and it’s given the city its highest-ever finish in our ranking. The city boasts the highest household income in the country. All that capital lures the best talent on the planet, meaning San Jose also tops our People category, with the smartest residents in the nation and the second-most diverse. The bounty of universities in the area is a performance driver all its own, creating symbiotic integrations with the tech companies in the city that have access to funding and innovation like few others. Given the optimal conditions settlement, the city has many museums for event use. Completed in 1934, of a lauded, coveted school and the spanning its fascinating history. the Spanish Revival–style building on-ramp it provides to jobs in the same was originally owned by the Start at History Park, an open-air city, San Jose will continue to stock California Army National Guard, and museum featuring local architecture its talent pipeline for years to come. today its 15,000 square feet add saved from city streets over two much-needed meeting space. The region, home to Google, Facebook, centuries, like a 140-year-old Chinese Cisco Systems, eBay and PayPal, is #6 for temple, an entire hotel and a working Fast-forward to the city’s engineering Fortune 500 HQs eager for graduates. trolley line. The 1881 electrical light present at the San Jose Tech Museum tower is particularly iconic, given it of Innovation, recently rebranded There are a massive number of was built to supply the entire city with as the Tech Interactive to better corporate offices in the city—with electrical street lights, years before capture its hands-on learning. Or rumored plans for a new Google the idea took hold in larger centers. befriend a local techie and have campus that could house up to 25,000 San Jose was seeing around corners, them tour you around one of the employees—but given the plentiful even almost a century and a half ago. high-flyer offices—from Airbnb to prosperity, San Jose is an incredibly Apple. It may not be a museum, livable and worthwhile destination. The newly opened San Jose Armory per se, but it’s almost as revered. As California’s oldest civilian Spanish refreshes another historic building

RESONANCECO.COM 19 POPULATION 9 METRO 1,999,107 MIAMI FL

HIGHLIGHTS the city’s hedonistic brand. But it’s the intends to promote its connectivity 1 PARKS & city’s openness to immigrants (and, and globalism, and the region’s OUTDOORS more recently, the LGBTQ+ community) selection as a host city candidate for that ranks it #4 in the country in our the 2026 World Cup will go a long way People category, including being in showcasing these qualities. The 4 PEOPLE the city with the most foreign-born city is also continuing its aggressive residents. Indeed, the city boasts more pursuit of events and conferences, than 100 languages spoken at home, and last year it approved the hotel Miami’s creativity is according to the latest census. design for the new Miami Beach Convention Center—a 185-foot, 17-story Miami’s historic embrace of a crossroads fueled by its arms- structure to be completed by 2022. of the Americas has also meant a wide-open acceptance business advantage few other cities But the clear and present danger for of new immigrants. claim. It’s home to one of the largest the city is Florida’s runaway COVID- concentrations of international banks 19 infection rates, which have swept in the U.S., as well as the largest hub— up Miami along with them. COVID-19 Miami’s natural attributes—turquoise outside of Mexico City, New York and rates, as of July 8, 2020, had surpassed Biscayne Bay lapping gleaming L.A.—of Spanish-language media. Set those of New York City, painting a sand while sun-kissed bodies frolic at the crossroads of Latin America both grim picture for the rest of 2020. everywhere—have always captured the in geography and in culture, Miami world’s imagination and crystallized

ONE OF THE CITY’S MANY IDYLLIC BEACHES

RESONANCECO.COM 20 POPULATION 10 METRO 4,875,390 BOSTON MA

HIGHLIGHTS In 2019, the enchanting port city surpassing, as of July 8, 2020, even New 1 UNIVERSITY with iconic waterways welcomed York City—Boston has 5,000 new hotel RANKING 22.5 million visitors, many of whom rooms in the pipeline over the next five explored the Freedom Trail, where years, led by the ambitious Newbury every step along this collection of Boston at One Newbury Street property, 7 PEOPLE museums, burial grounds, historic located in the coveted shopping and markers and even a ship helps tell the dining neighborhood of Boston’s Back story of the American Revolution. Bay. Originally opened in 1927 as one of the first Ritz-Carlton hotels in the U.S., it America’s oldest big city has Given the projected demand for will be reborn as a 286-room luxury hotel accommodations in the city— never been more current. with massive event capacity. sideswiped by some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the country, A hub of higher education and home to the fourth-best-educated workforce in the nation, Beantown produces a steady stream of new talent to help attract start-ups and established companies alike. Future talent gravitates to Harvard, of course—the country’s top school (and a big reason why the city is #1 in our University subcategory and scored Top 5 in our Product category, which measures expensive, hard-to-build infrastructure like airport connectivity and convention centers)—as well as to Boston’s density of other world- class universities and colleges. The city is bursting with lecture halls, labs and classrooms of the more than 75 institutions of higher learning, and is energized by the estimated 200,000 post-secondary students creating stories, ideas, solutions and technologies that will help drive the economy and incubate innovation districts nationally and globally in the coming decades. New students flock here, to arguably the planet’s largest university town, by the tens of thousands every year and become smitten with the crooked narrow streets and storied pubs, blended with American optimism and East Coast connectivity. This is the birthplace of America, after all. And Facebook. No wonder Boston ranks #7 in our People category, including #4 for percentage of the population with postsecondary education and #20 for Foreign-Born Residents. But students were just a drop in the bucket compared to the record-setting tourism numbers over the past year.

VIEW OF DOWNTOWN AND FENWAY PARK

RESONANCECO.COM 21 11 HOUSTON 12 ATLANTA 13 PHOENIX TEXAS GEORGIA ARIZONA

POPULATION METRO 6,997,384 POPULATION METRO 5,950,828 POPULATION METRO 4,857,962

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

4 GOOGLE TRENDS 4 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY 5 ATTRACTIONS

4 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 4 CONVENTION CENTER 6 WEATHER

Smart, skilled and soulful, Houston Affluent, charming and dripping Latin soul, daring architecture is the American city of the future. with history, this giant of the and a reverence for the outdoors American South is creating blends a heady mix in the heart International immigration in the past the future on its own terms. of the American Southwest. decade has contributed to explosive population growth and has made Atlanta has always been a crossroads— A thriving desert metropolis, Phoenix Houston one of the most ethnically open to new ideas, and to the new offers some of the best Mexican food diverse big cities in America, with arrivals who came to this lush, hot, this side of the border, a number of fine more than 145 different languages rolling land when the city rose as museums, a vibrant artist community spoken at home, according to the latest a railroad terminus. Today, it is a and 300 days of sunshine. Start your census—about even with New York. No transportation hub still, with Hartsfield– visit with a stroll through Roosevelt Row wonder its restaurants are ranked #4 Jackson Atlanta International Airport Arts District, or RoRo as locals have in the nation, trailing just the big three one of the busiest airports in the world, taken to calling it. Art galleries, studios, of L.A, NYC and Chicago. The fourth- with 80% of the U.S. population residing restaurants and bars sit side by side largest city in the U.S. is also home within a two-hour flight. It’s why the in this walkable creative district in the to the fourth-largest concentration city ranks #4 for Airport Connectivity downtown core—helping the city to a of Fortune 500 companies in the among all U.S. cities, as well as #4 for #12 ranking in the country in our Sights country. Despite this, the city ranks a its Convention Center, resulting in and Landmarks category. Don’t miss middling #47 for Prosperity, including an overall #6 ranking in our Product the Desert Botanical Garden, which #74 in our Employment ranking and category. Atlanta, like most optimized with more than 50,000 plants has one #99 for Income Equality. The recent hubs, also boasts efficient, inexpensive, of the world’s largest collections of development of the Houston Spaceport, direct public transit links to the city from desert flora. Want to see some cacti and a hub for innovation, education and its airport. It is also a long-time business succulents in their natural element? Take commercial spaceflight, is the future of titan and ranks #9 in the nation for most a close-up look at Camelback Mountain. the region’s space industry—and brings Fortune 500 companies based in town. Summit trails are not for the faint of us all a step closer to space tourism. heart, especially in 100-degree heat, but For now, Houston’s 22.3 million annual the base of the mountain offers easier visitors (2018)—of which 3.28 million and equally beautiful trails for beginners. were international travelers—arrive and Phoenix ranks #13 in the nation for its depart by more conventional means— Parks & Outdoors. If you’re looking for a at least they did before the city was respite from the heat, visit the Phoenix devastated by the pandemic. The city Art Museum to see Carlos Amorales’ ranks #7 for Airport Connectivity. Black Cloud, a site-specific installation consisting of 25,000 life-sized moths and butterflies swarming the walls.

RESONANCECO.COM 22 14 DALLAS 15 SEATTLE 16 DENVER TEXAS WASHINGTON COLORADO

POPULATION METRO 7,540,371 POPULATION METRO 3,939,363 POPULATION METRO 2,932,415

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

1 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY 6 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 10 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

3 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 6 SHOPPING 11 PROSPERITY

Dallas-boosters like to say that America’s boomtown is playing Light rail, legal pot and buzzing “Big Things Happen Here,” the long game to keep the ’hoods put Denver on the fast track. and as the city climbs up our (supervised) party going. Since its Wild West beginnings, ranking, we’d have to agree. Seattle’s self-reliance and dedication Denver has attracted people from a It’s not only city branding that’s big to taking care of its own has fostered variety of cultures who’ve created a in Dallas, which is home to more than over 150 years of city-building on the rich tapestry and a diverse cultural 10,000 corporate headquarters— far-flung northwest coast of the U.S., heritage. These days, an increasing the largest corporate head office setting the stage for its current “it” number of companies are locating in concentration in the U.S. and ranked status. In many ways, Sea Town reverse- Downtown Denver, which points to its third nationally for Fortune 500 engineered its success. With a focus on reputation as one of the best places Companies. Of course, a city with lots education and an optimized workforce, in the country to start and grow a of corporate headquarters is a city the very environment that launched business. The city ranks an impressive that’s easy to get to; Dallas ranks first in and held on to Boeing (still the biggest #11 nationally for Prosperity, including the nation for Connectivity, a measure local employer despite the relocation #30 for Employment as of May 2020 and of direct flight access into a city’s of its headquarters to Chicago) as well #28 for tackling income inequality. But principal airport. But the city isn’t just as Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser has it’s not just an abundance of jobs and big money; it’s big on fun and culture, also attracted more recent captains a lower cost of living that’s attracting too. Dallas is also home to America’s of industry, like Amazon, Costco and a highly educated and in-demand sixth-largest LGBTQ+ community, with Starbucks. Keeping the talent pipeline workforce to the city. Blessed with 300 bars and restaurants concentrated stocked has always been Seattle’s days of sunshine a year, surrounded by in Oak Lawn, and to the Dallas Arts secret—and it has paid off. Today, it mountains, hiking paths and numerous District, the largest contiguous urban ranks #11 in the nation for educated indoor/outdoor spaces, the city is in arts district in the nation. On 20 square citizenry and #6 in our vital Household the vanguard of the growing trend blocks of mixed-use space, museums Income subcategory. The city’s boom toward office wellness. Lest we forget, like the Dallas Museum of Art, the Crow has slowed significantly, with rising cannabis is legal in the Mile High City Museum of Asian Art, the renowned COVID-19 cases—despite being and the entire state of Colorado. Nasher Sculpture Center and theatre, 22nd-lowest in the nation as of early symphony and opera venues, along with July, and its highest-ever unemployment restaurants and bars, all contribute to a rate (ranked #86 nationally as of May #20 ranking in Culture. 2020). At the same time, residents, workers, and businesses have been hobbled by the closure of the West Seattle Bridge, the city’s busiest.

RESONANCECO.COM 23 17 AUSTIN 18 ORLANDO 19 HONOLULU TEXAS FLORIDA HAWAII

POPULATION METRO 2,168,316 POPULATION METRO 2,572,962 POPULATION METRO 980,080

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

8 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 4 ATTRACTIONS 2 PARKS & OUTDOORS

8 NIGHTLIFE 3 TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS 4 INCOME EQUALITY

The home of SXSW and the Yes, there are theme parks. There’s the unparalleled natural purported best live music But Orlando is also a thriving beauty, of course, but there’s scene on the planet fights food destination with plenty innovative shopping and dining, too. hard to keep it weird. to enjoy without kids in tow. As a global vacation destination, visited The rebellious Texas city—forged with Being the largest city in a region that by more than six million tourists last the Longhorn State’s can-do persistence generates more than $60 billion in year—up 16.2% in five years, according cut with a university town’s political tourism-related revenue every year to local numbers, Honolulu is facing an activism and social diversity—has (2020 being the notable exception) economy that’s been devastated by the long attracted the misfits that didn’t gets you plenty of lift from a rising tide. pandemic. It has among the highest quite fit into the south’s expectations. That’s a lot of visitors with a story to tell rates of unemployment in the country The city ranks Top 10 in our People if you give them the means. Orlando and a long struggle back to rebuilding its category, including #8 for Educational knows how to get people talking. Its Top visitor-focused workforce. Things were Attainment. That foundation of thinking 10 ranking in our Promotion category going in the right direction for the state differently drew dreamers for decades, drove its strong ranking among larger at the beginning of 2020, with visitation manifesting in one of the nation’s top U.S. cities, including the third-most and spending up 5% year-over-year as music scenes. The city’s marketing TripAdvisor reviews of any metropolis. late as February. But with the pall of organization, Visit Austin, trademarked Orlando plans buzzy product releases COVID-19 falling swiftly and mercilessly, the city as “Live Music Capital of the with military precision—and has local estimates are now warning of a World.” On any given night, the city’s suffered deeply when confronted with 40% drop in tourism for this year, with various entertainment districts serve up an invisible enemy it couldn’t defeat 6,000 jobs lost as a result. But Honolulu performance experiences like nowhere quickly, its many high-budget tourism- will be back—it has the lowest COVID- else on earth. South By Southwest, the reliant initiatives cut short, from 19 infection rates among the nation’s annual summit of film, interactive media, SeaWorld’s new Sesame Street, rolled cities with MSA populations of 500,000 and music festivals and conferences out for the show’s 50th anniversary, or higher. Despite the economic (plus a fair share of historic product to LEGOLAND Resort’s debuted Lego devastation, it still simultaneously ranks launches like Airbnb), has seeded the Movie World. Orlando’s Restaurants Top 10 for household income (#8) and in area’s magnetism for new ventures. As ranking is also an impressive #12 in the tackling income inequality (#4). It’s also such, monikers like “Silicon Hills” have country. As the world’s chefs focus on simply too coveted as both a destination followed campus openings by Apple, the post-pandemic opportunity in a and a hometown not to be. It ranked Facebook, Google, Oracle, Dell, Cisco, place with so many diners on vacation, #3 in the nation in our layered Place and Hewlett-Packard. A skills shortage— they’ll open outposts here. The NBA category, trailing only the much larger tempered by the pandemic—is being making its pandemic season hub in the centers of New York and San Diego, mitigated somewhat by a steady flow city will help a little, but Orlando faces with its verdant, knife-edge topography of graduates pouring out from the massive challenges in a state where exploding into the blue sky from rolling University of Texas and new residents. infection rates are setting daily records. hills every few miles.

RESONANCECO.COM 24 20 PHILADELPHIA 21 MINNEAPOLIS 22 PORTLAND PENNSYLVANIA MINNESOTA OREGON

POPULATION METRO 6,096,372 POPULATION METRO 3,629,190 POPULATION METRO 2,478,996

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

4 UNIVERSITY RANKING 6 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 11 SIGHTS AND LANDMARKS

7 MUSEUMS 8 PROSPERITY 10 PROGRAMMING

The City of Brotherly Love gives A low unemployment rate prior to America’s Left Coast runs locals and visitors plenty of the pandemic, a wealth of cultural deep in this ambitious city on Americana: in splendid museums, offerings and lower cost of living the edge of the wilderness. live shows and, of course, life- make Minneapolis a talent magnet. Portland’s Left-coast isolation, affirming cheesesteaks. As the site of the George Floyd murder ambivalence toward established Given its deep foundation in the creation at the hands of local police officers norms and legacy of cooperation and of the Union almost 250 years ago, that inspired a global movement neighborliness—to hew trees and carve Philadelphia is a dense, catalogued against systemic racism, Minneapolis out one’s place among the encroaching embodiment of American values became a household name. In addition wilderness—makes this one of the and traditions, easily accessible and to their vital role in a fight for justice, most earnest cities in America. It’s also eagerly shared. Small wonder, then, residents have long advocated for one of most beautiful, ranking #11 for that it ranks an impressive #13 for their city, the results of which can be Sights and Landmarks and #15 for Parks Programming, including Top 10 in the seen in numerous parks, bike trails and & Outdoors. One of the zingers in the nation for Restaurants (#9) and Culture placemaking along a prime location on popular TV show Portlandia identified (#8). It’s home to places like the Liberty the mighty Mississippi. With 18 Fortune its lampooned target as a “place young Bell Center, of course. And various 500 companies—the most per capita of people go to retire.” But it’s more like must-see cultural centers with the any American metro area—Minneapolis reinventing themselves, taking what term “Independence” in their names. It scores an impressive #8 for Prosperity. was there all along, finding its best parts might be America’s birthplace, but the The city is also maintaining job and doubling down on what works. City of Brotherly Love only keeps one opportunities amidst the outbreak, with The proof of its people is in Portland’s foot firmly rooted in its rich history. The a #30 ranking for Employment nationally performance: its citizenry ranks #18 other is stepping into the future, with as of May 2020. It also ranks #22 in our for both the Educational Attainment the 11th-most Fortune 500 companies ranking of the Gini Index of Income and Household Income subcategories. located here, a growing population Equality. The highly educated workforce Portlanders get things done—including, and glittering skyline heading ever (ranked #12 nationally for Educational as of July 8, 2020, ranking #7 in the upward. Philadelphia is also a city rich Attainment) earns a comfortable living nation for low COVID-19 infections per in hometown pride, with locals reliably and enjoys easy access to the rest of 100,000. As the eyes of the world focus turning out to celebrate everything the world via Minneapolis-Saint Paul on the city’s battle against shadowy from Super Bowl victories to National International Airport. Locals are eager federal military deployed there to quell Cheesesteak Day. Strong employment to show off the Walker Art Center— Black Lives Matter protest, Portlanders prior to the pandemic, driven by a which features contemporary works are once again forging their reputation diverse economy, meant population like the giant spoon sculpture—which as an uncompromising citizenry. growth, a resilient real estate market has become a city trademark, and and a boom in new construction. the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

RESONANCECO.COM 25 23 BALTIMORE 24 PROVO 25 RALEIGH MARYLAND UTAH NORTH CAROLINA

POPULATION METRO 2,802,789 POPULATION METRO 632,705 POPULATION METRO 1,362,540

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

6 UNIVERSITY RANKING 2 INCOME EQUALITY 7 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

17 SIGHTS AND LANDMARKS 5 SAFETY 20 HOUSEHOLD INCOME

Baltimore is way more than what An outdoor paradise prepares A booming economy and global you know about it from television. for take-off. intellect poise the Carolina And that’s a very good thing. powerhouse for the future. With Wasatch peaks to the east and Less than an hour’s commute from Utah Lake to the west, Provo is an The City of Oaks checks all the boxes Washington, D.C., Baltimore offers a outdoor enthusiast’s playground. It’s for a bright, ambitious city of the slower pace of life and significantly home to Brigham Young University and new south: Raleigh is part of North cheaper housing than its hyper-charged forms part of Silicon Slopes, Utah’s Carolina’s Research Triangle, one of the neighbor to the south. But the time to start-up and tech community. Its easy country’s largest and most successful buy in one of Baltimore’s diverse, historic access to hiking, river rafting, mountain research parks—think high-tech and communities (the city ranks #17 for biking, skiing, snowboarding and more, biotech research and advanced textile Sights and Landmarks) may just be right plus the city’s own 53 green spaces development. Ranked #26 for Prosperity now—home prices have jumped nearly (totalling 2,000 acres, plus 33 miles among larger U.S. cities, including 10% since 2018. Baltimore is also home of trails), earned Provo #74 for Parks & #20 for highest median Household to world-class institutions like Johns Outdoors—an impressive feat among Income, Raleigh is also a magnet for Hopkins University and the National the nation’s larger cities. That ranking, immigrants. It ranks #13 in our People Aquarium, as well as a quirky culture plus its #5 spot for Safety and #24 for category, comprising the subcategories that makes Charm City a place like no Weather, earned Provo an impressive of Educational Attainment and Foreign- other. Johns Hopkins is Baltimore’s #7 overall ranking in our Place category. Born Residents. And it’s in education largest employer, and while this may But the real driver of its performance where Raleighites truly shine bright— be the biggest city without a single among America’s Top 25 cities was ranking #7 in the U.S. for educated Fortune 500 company, Maryland boasts its #2 ranking for low COVID-19 big-city citizenry. So what do all these a $35-billion aerospace industry, and the infections among 100,000. Technology, smart people do for fun? They’re indoors defense contractor Northrop Grumman healthcare, and education are among and out: the North Carolina Museum is a Top 5 employer of Baltimore the city’s major industries, with an of Natural Sciences attracts more than residents. It ranks an impressive #12 in economy that’s propelled by a highly a million people annually; there’s a the nation in our Prosperity category, educated population: Provo ranked #14 Contemporary Art Museum, bluegrass including Top 10 for Household Income. for Educational Attainment (with nearly festivals and craft brews. While our Meanwhile, unemployment has been 43% having earned a bachelor’s degree rankings don’t tell the food story yet (the dropping steadily since 2010 and, or higher). Coupled with its #78 ranking city comes in at #46 for Restaurants), the as of May 2020, the city boasted the for Foreign-Born Residents (nearly culinary scene is vividly imaginative: Bon 19th-lowest numbers in the country. 11%), Provo ranked #30 in our People Appétit granted one of its coveted Top Baltimore earns a #14 ranking for category. A Google Fiber community, 10 America’s Best New Restaurants for Museums, and many are clustered Provo is poised for growth, led by its 2017 to a quirky and beautiful mash-up around the revitalized Inner Harbor, recently launched $40-million airport called Brewery Bhavana. now a post-industrial waterfront. terminal, adding more daily flights.

RESONANCECO.COM 26 26 SACRAMENTO 27 NASHVILLE 28 SAN ANTONIO CALIFORNIA TENNESSEE TEXAS

POPULATION METRO 2,345,210 POPULATION METRO 1,932,099 POPULATION METRO 2,518,036

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

20 PLACE 18 PROGRAMMING 7 ATTRACTIONS

22 PEOPLE 22 PROMOTION 10 GOOGLE SEARCH

Green, bountiful and affluent, Music City lets you worship your Rich in distinctly Texan California’s capital is big idols and toast them frequently. attractions, San Antonio is a place on local stewardship and for all seasons (and reasons). The city and its citizens spend their keeping a good thing going. money wisely, including for the The genius of San Antonio is that, ever California’s state capital is peaceful and preservation of historic buildings since 1941, it has sagely leveraged, wealthy, ranking well in our Household and to revitalize neighborhoods like grown and enhanced its greatest asset Income subcategory and even better Germantown, which was established and attraction: the River Walk. The nationally in the Safety subcategory. Its in the 1850s by European immigrants. idyllic pedestrian promenade along natural attributes also drive its livability, Small wonder, then, that the city ranks the San Antonio River, extended from including epic weather, courtesy of #22 in our vital Sights and Landmarks three to 15 miles in 2013, is a scenic its Mediterranean temperatures. The subcategory. The music scene urban lifeline that connects visitors to City of Trees—residents claim more continues to thrive as well, particularly everywhere they want to be and anchors trees per capita than anywhere besides as a younger generation of musicians— the city’s #7 ranking for Attractions Paris—isn’t a stranger to cataclysmic Jack White and the Black Keys come to among America’s large cities. On one fires: the Great Conflagration of mind—have chosen to live and set up end of the River Walk, there’s the five 1852 burned 40 square blocks of the recording studios in town. You can start colonial missions, a UNESCO heritage fledgling city, leaving what is today your visit at the Country Music Hall of site and key players in a #24 finish for called Old Sacramento, with its cobbled Fame, which traces the history of the Culture. On the other, the San Antonio streets, historic buildings, steam- genre. If you want to delve deeper into Zoo, and in between, the San Antonio hauled historic trains, horse-drawn the personal stories of Willie Nelson, Museum of Art, the Texas Golf Hall of carriages and the western terminus Johnny Cash and George Jones, well, Fame and dozens of other curiosities, of the Pony Express. Hokey? Maybe, they’ve got their own museums, too— eclectic stops and riverside cafés. but it undoubtedly contributes to the at least they will when they fully reopen Increasingly, Pearl is a destination within city’s #20 rank for Place, a measure of after the pandemic. With a #13 ranking the destination: a mixed-use space in neighborhoods, parks and outdoor for Culture, the city is finally getting the a former brewery, it’s a beguiling blend activities. Some help from Mother recognition it deserves for its long but of retail, dining, offices, a riverside Nature has stewarded the city toward subtle influence on the American fabric. amphitheater, events and a campus declaring itself America’s “Farm to Fork Should you need a respite from culture of the Culinary Institute of America. Capital,” surrounded by fertile farms and the #14-ranked Nightlife, the city Around the esteemed school, a host of that feed a robust fresh-and-local offers a sprawling park system with more grads and chefs have clustered, creating ethos. Sacramento’s restaurants are than 12,000 acres to explore by bike a smorgasbord of choices from Italian only happy to tap the localism. Taste (B-Cycle bike-rental stations are located to ’cue to bakery to vegetarian cuisine. it for yourself at La Cosecha in Cesar at greenway trailheads), or by kayak Chavez Plaza, in the heart of the city. and canoe on the Harpeth River. Social distancing is (relatively) enjoyable here.

RESONANCECO.COM 27 29 SALT LAKE CITY 30 TAMPA 31 NEW ORLEANS UTAH FLORIDA LOUISIANA

POPULATION METRO 1,222,540 POPULATION METRO 3,142,663 POPULATION METRO 1,270,399

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

5 INCOME EQUALITY 7 SAFETY 2 SHOPPING

20 CONVENTION CENTER 14 ATTRACTIONS 3 MUSEUMS

The Great Outdoors are calling Florida’s outdoor wonderland Few cities of its size radiate the and Salt Lake is doing its has a taste for the finer things. lore that New Orleans does. best to keep you in town. In Tampa, the natural and built In the face of poverty, injustice, Combining spectacular natural and built environments are in sync. The city and environmental catastrophes environments, Salt Lake is no longer has low crime (an impressive #7 in compounded by both, NoLa has created just a gateway to the great outdoors the nation), pleasant weather in its a culture of presence, music and but also a welcoming destination with a 361 days of sunshine per year, and festivals that may pale in size to others high cool quotient. The transformation sprawling, diverse outdoor attractions, in the world, but never in intensity. It’s began with the arrival of the XIX including, of course, nearby beaches why the city ranks #6 for Programming, Olympic Winter Games in 2002, as like Desoto Park and Clearwater Beach our category spanning shopping, food the city thawed its reputation as an that helped the city rank #16 in our Parks scene, nightlife and cultural attractions. über-conservative cowboy town with & Outdoors category. Chief among the Given the need to celebrate, to seize the Mormon family values and instead parklands is the Tampa Riverwalk, a day, to revel in all that fusion of humanity presented a slew of quaint cafés and 2.6-mile continuous waterfront corridor and culture and sweaty new people and stylish restaurants. SLC continues along the banks of the Hillsborough ideas, the city ranks #6 in our Nightlife to pour millions into development River and the Garrison Channel. It’s category. After all, the party only projects and the beautification of its bookended by the Florida Aquarium begins in the French Quarter. It grows downtown. The town has matured into and the popular Ulele restaurant; more refined and local as it weaves an urban experience as much as an in between, there’s the Tampa Bay into Marigny, Bywater or the timeless outdoor one. Of course, the proximity History Center, the Florida Museum jazz seduction of Frenchmen Street. of the Wasatch Range’s stunning of Photographic Arts, the convention NoLa also rules our Shopping category, canyons and 11,000-foot peaks is the center, and other stops of interest scoring a #2 ranking, helped by the reason many adrenaline junkies travel that contribute to Tampa’s #14 ranking intoxicating treasures of Magazine and move here. The city ranks #27 for in Attractions. In early 2018, another Street convincing visitors that their finds Parks & Outdoors and #28 for Culture. park was added to the mosaic of green are only available here and now. And The city’s #9 Prosperity ranking is also spaces along the Riverwalk: The Julian they often are. In the last few years, the notable, driven by its Top 5 finish in B. Lane Riverfront Park’s 23 acres invite city has been renovating and expediting our Gini Index of Income Equality. visitors to get onto the water, rather projects languishing since the Hurricane than simply admiring it, via row boats, Katrina rebuild. Today, with one of the canoes, kayaks and paddleboards. highest rates of COVID-19 infections The shoreline, meanwhile, provides among cities in the country, New plenty of waterfront entertainment Orleans is getting ready to rebuild again. spaces for landlubbers.

RESONANCECO.COM 28 32 SANTA ROSA 33 MADISON 34 CHARLOTTE CALIFORNIA WISCONSIN NORTH CAROLINA

POPULATION METRO 499,942 POPULATION METRO 660,422 POPULATION METRO 2,569,213

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

9 SAFETY 9 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 10 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY

9 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 10 INCOME EQUALITY 20 GOOGLE SEARCH

Prosperous, safe and well- Some cities win the lottery, and Affluent and easy to love for educated, Santa Rosa is as this oft-cited example of livability, its southern charm, North resilient as it is beautiful. job creation and Millennial Carolina’s biggest city is open magnetism is no exception. for business and pleasure. After suffering untold tragedy during the Tubbs wildfire in 2017, Santa Rosa is Madison’s enviable position as both The Old South is up to new tricks in back stronger than ever, taking the top capital of Wisconsin and the site of Charlotte, a global banking powerhouse spot of all midsize cities in California. As the state’s largest university certainly (the second-most important in the the largest city in Northern California’s fuels its #13 ranking in Prosperity U.S. after New York) and holder of the Wine Country, Santa Rosa enjoys among American cities, including #23 spot in our ranking for Fortune excellent amenities both human and #29 for Household Income and the 500 companies in town. Locals in the natural. It’s the kind of place that blends 19th-lowest unemployment rate as Queen City are smart, too: Charlotte wine tasting and hiking with distinct of May 2020 (more on that in a bit). ranks #33 in our Educational Attainment museums, none more so than the And Madison’s prosperity is mostly subcategory. The prosperity is easily Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated evenly dispersed, evidenced by the accessed and distributed, powered to the author of the Peanuts comic city’s impressive #10 spot on the Gini by Charlotte’s #10 ranking for Airport strip. The city ranks #9 for Safety and Index of Income Equality. A hive of Connectivity. People call their #18 for Weather. Its high household healthcare, IT and manufacturing downtown Uptown, but the good income (#9) draws educated citizens powered by pipelines of talent out of news is that it’s all walkable. Beneath (#34), contributing to a safe place to the University of Wisconsin creates its bankerly surface, Charlotte offers live and work. As Santa Rosa rebuilds a symbiotic, sustainable relationship unexpected attractions: the NASCAR the neighborhoods destroyed by fire, between academic infrastructure Hall of Fame, for instance, where you it is focusing on new development and economic performance. Indeed, can trace the sport from its moonshine- downtown near the SMART train Madison boasts the ninth-best educated running roots to today’s multi-billion- station that connects the city to Marin citizens among the nation. With a dollar powerhouse. Glory Road is a County and ferries to San Francisco. Millennial population approaching 30% banked ramp featuring historic cars and (according to a recent Brookings study), tracks, and racing simulators let you Madison is set to welcome even more become a pitstop crew member, and see with its still-affordable housing, one of the world from the driver's point of view. the lowest historical unemployment rates in the country, and one of the nation's lowest urban infection rates (#20 as of July 8, 2020). Distinct and emerging neighborhoods and venues are adding to the urban fabric.

RESONANCECO.COM 29 35 BRIDGEPORT 36 OMAHA 37 COLORADO SPRINGS CONNECTICUT NEBRASKA COLORADO

POPULATION METRO 943,823 POPULATION METRO 941,924 POPULATION METRO 738,939

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

4 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 16 INCOME EQUALITY 6 INCOME EQUALITY

5 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 26 WEATHER 18 ATTRACTIONS

The leafy riverfront city breezes The discreet economic A haven that fuels the appetites into a renewable future. powerhouse of the Midwest lives of both adventure seekers large while keeping it small. and culinary hounds. Known as Park City because of its bounty of green space, Bridgeport is Nebraska’s largest city has always Situated at the base of Pikes Peak, a deep-sea port that sits at the mouth worked overtime to carve out its Colorado Springs is a wonderland of the Pequonnock River as it pours place on the banks of the Missouri for those who love adventure, into Long Island Sound. It stands out River in pretty much the middle of the unsurprisingly ranking #26 in our Parks for its Top 5 spot in our vital People (contiguous) country. Billionaire Warren & Outdoors subcategory nationally. category. Its residents are among the Buffett’s decision to stay in Omaha— But after you’ve burned off calories most educated in the entire nation, with where he lives in a modest home he hiking the Garden of the Gods or biking a #5 ranking for Educational Attainment. bought for $31,500 more than 60 years Cheyenne Mountain State Park, there (More than 18% of its population has a ago—has always been a source of are plenty of opportunities to refuel. bachelor’s degree or higher.) It boasts curiosity. But the Berkshire Hathaway Today, the fare is increasingly raised and a diverse demographic, standing at CEO’s hometown loyalty doesn’t grown locally, and the long-standing #13 for Foreign-Born Residents (nearly surprise Omaha locals, who know that brewing tradition adopted by start- 30%) residents. Connecticut’s largest their city is one of the best spots in the ups is thriving. Even the springs in city is also a wealthy one, #4 for our country to start a business, raise a family Colorado Springs are being marketed Household Income subcategory (with and let your hair down on a Saturday for their terroir. It all comes together— a 2019 median income of $45,441) night. Thanks in no small part to or will come back together, fully, once and, even amidst the pandemic, the Buffett, Omaha earns our #5 ranking for the effects of social distancing have #19th-lowest unemployment rate in the Prosperity, with the most Fortune 500s passed—during mornings at Ivywild country. It is the poor performance in (eight) of any city with less than a million School, a local community marketplace Income Equality (#107 nationally) that people. It also boasts the second-lowest for groceries or coffee to go, and during sinks the city’s overall Prosperity ranking unemployment rate as of May 2020, evenings at new spots that seem to to the mid-50s (#54). There’s plenty of and an impressive #16 ranking on the open monthly. The city is also getting innovation, too, led by Vineyard Wind, Gini Index of Income Equality. But it’s the word out about its rise, including the top U.S. offshore wind supplier. The not just stalwarts like Mutual of Omaha piquing plenty of interest with its #37 company is beginning construction on that keep this city bustling: a growing ranking for TripAdvisor Reviews and Bridgeport’s Park City Wind as early as tech sector has earned Omaha the #39 ranking for Facebook Check-ins. 2021. The electricity-generating hub will nickname “Silicon Prairie.” It’s important While the city’s size keeps its economic power 600,000 homes, create close to note that Omahans work to live, performance middle-of-the-pack, it to $1.6 billion in economic benefits and too, as evidenced by its #31 ranking ranks an incredible #6 on the Gini Index create as many as 12,000 jobs state- for Nightlife and #40 for Shopping in of Income Equality. It’s also had, as of wide while saving residents up to $1.1 the country (pre-COVID-19, anyway). July 8, 2020, the 12th-lowest COVID-19 billion in energy costs. infection rates in the country.

RESONANCECO.COM 30 38 ST. LOUIS 39 OXNARD 40 COLUMBUS MISSOURI CALIFORNIA OHIO

POPULATION METRO 2,804,724 POPULATION METRO 850,967 POPULATION METRO 2,106,541

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

11 UNIVERSITY RANKING 3 WEATHER 24 ATTRACTIONS

15 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 7 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 27 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES

One of the world’s top music Rich, rugged and sunny, A business heart beats strong, cities is an energetic crossroads Oxnard’s future as a coveted which means plenty of money of the American dream. hometown is looking bright. to support innovative city design and local commerce. America’s gateway to the West has Oxnard, sandwiched between more always been an understated city of famous Malibu and Santa Barbara, is Setting it apart from many Midwest neighborhoods (ranking #15 among an increasingly poorly kept secret. This metros, Ohio’s capital and largest city American large cities for Sights and California city has too much going for is one of America’s fastest-growing, a Landmarks) and cultural elegance. It it to stay under the radar. Its gorgeous forward-thinking economic powerhouse performs well (#20) for Nightlife action weather ranks #3 among large U.S. that’s also home to one of the largest in bars and clubs, and ranks #24 for cities, and its direct access to beaches college campuses, Ohio State Culture, our measure of concerts, and the coastal mountains give it a University. And Buckeye football isn’t shows and major cultural events (not #44 ranking for Parks & Outdoors. The the university’s only contribution to surprisingly, Miles Davis is a native city’s diversified economy, including local culture: with more OSU graduates son). There’s often a correlation in agriculture, oil, shipping, and business deciding to stay in town, Columbus the rankings between good nightlife and financial services, makes Oxnard is an emerging tech mecca with a and prosperity, and St. Louis is no a magnet for both high-income thriving arts scene. The city earned exception—it ranks #15 for Fortune households (#7) and foreign-born a decent #37 ranking for Prosperity, 500 companies that call it home. residents (#16), giving the city a #24 rank thanks to historically low unemployment But humankind can’t live by nightlife overall in our vital People category. Also (although only ranking #36 amidst the alone, especially if children are notable is the fact that the city is in the pandemic, according to May 2020 data) involved, so there’s always the zoo, Top 20 for low COVID-19 infections (as and a well-rounded economy buoyed and there must be a visit to the mind- of July 8, 2020), ranking #19 nationally. by a growing number of start-ups, as blowing (for any age) City Museum. Port Hueneme, right next door, is the well as top employer Ohio State and Not surprisingly, the city ranks #17 only major navigable port in California Fortune 500s like Nationwide Insurance in our Museums subcategory. between Los Angeles and the San and L Brands. So what do locals do Francisco Bay. For the few people who when they’re not working? The first don’t like boating or beaches, Oxnard Saturday of the month means Gallery boasts not one but two automotive Hop, when galleries are open late and museums (this is California, after all), performers and artists hit the streets of as well as the Heritage Square historic Columbus’ Short North Arts District. And district, a unique collection of century- there's Otherworld—a 32,000-square- old Craftsman and Victorian homes. foot warehouse packed with immersive installations. All of it adds up to a respectable #39 ranking for Culture and an overall #30 ranking for Programming.

RESONANCECO.COM 31 41 TUCSON 42 VIRGINIA BEACH 43 KANSAS CITY ARIZONA VIRGINIA MISSOURI

POPULATION METRO 1,039,073 POPULATION METRO 1,729,114 POPULATION METRO 2,142,419

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

10 WEATHER 2 SAFETY 15 GOOGLE SEARCH

16 SHOPPING 8 INCOME EQUALITY 23 CULTURE

Arizona’s second city is Big-city amenities lap the golden The Paris of the Plains is growing ascending fast, with bold city sand in Virginia’s largest city. into an affordable, artsy tech leadership and placemaking. hub with a taste for barbecue. Few East Coast American cities Fast-growing Tucson is buoyed by blend the urban with the natural as Affordable yet packed with culture, its sense of place, ranking #10 for beautifully as Virginia Beach. With 38 sports and plenty of delectable food Weather and #18 for Parks & Outdoors. miles of coastline at the mouth of the (if you haven’t had KC barbecue, The city is poised to ascend up future Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach has you haven’t quite lived), Kansas City national rankings, due to a torrent of long been a vacation destination for offers a perfect balance of big city new investment in all manner of green folks looking to escape Washington, amenities like great jobs and a healthy and common space. Its new Sun Link D.C.’s sweltering summers. But Virginia’s economy combined with an easygoing LRT is sure to improve quality of life, largest city is coming into its own, Midwestern vibe that locals and visitors creating a focus on fewer cars and more with a growing Millennial population love. If you absolutely must work, then walkability that’s designed to pull the drawn by a strong economy, affordable Kansas City isn’t a bad place to do it. sprawling population together, closer housing and thriving local food scene. Routinely ranked as one of the best cities to downtown. Urban innovation that Tourism remains a top industry, netting for working women, KC’s top industries taps its outdoor bounty by increasing the city more than $850 million are healthcare and government, but it access to it is not a hard sell for a town annually, but corporate employers like also has a burgeoning tech scene, which where almost 25% are aged between Amerigroup and GEICO round out the is in large part thanks to it being the 20 and 34. You can thank the University local economy. The Hampton Roads first home of the Google Fiber network. of Arizona (ranked #45 nationally in metropolitan area is also home to It’s likely you won’t be bored in Kansas our University subcategory) for the major U.S. military installations, and— City—whether you love cheering on the city’s youthful bounce. The city is also an unusual and welcome asset in an NFL champion Chiefs or the Royals or hanging in economically, with the sixth- era when local food reigns—the city’s you prefer perusing the Nelson-Atkins lowest unemployment rate in the nation, 23,000-acre Pungo neighborhood is Museum of Art or the American Jazz as of May 2020. It must be all that great devoted to agriculture, which remains Museum. And if you don’t feel like doing shopping in town, for which Tucson a $120-million industry. The pristine, any of those, you could always visit ranks #16 in the country. endless sandy beach, charmingly any or all of the 48 publicly operated framed by a three-mile, 140-year-old fountains throughout the city. Besides boardwalk, is the city’s top draw, earning the good weather (which ranks at #33), Virginia Beach a #10 ranking in our Kansas City makes a perfect nesting Place category, powered by it second- spot for young professionals and lowest crime rate in the country’s large families of all shapes and sizes due to cities (#2) and its eighth-lowest rate of its affordability, its increasingly diverse COVID-19 infections as of July 8, 2020. population and world-class universities like Kansas City Art Institute and UMKC.

RESONANCECO.COM 32 44 DURHAM 45 CHARLESTON 46 CAPE CORAL NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA FLORIDA

POPULATION METRO 575,412 POPULATION METRO 787,643 POPULATION METRO 754,610

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

6 UNIVERSITY RANKING 7 PARKS & OUTDOORS 1 SAFETY

6 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 10 MUSEUMS 8 PARKS & OUTDOORS

One of America’s top college In the Holy City, find European America’s safest city is no towns is growing from within elegance and macaron-colored longer overlooked in favor of while welcoming the world. antebellum mansions by day and glowing neighbors Sanibel all kinds of revelry after sunset. Island and Fort Myers. Durham is one of America’s top college towns and at the heart of it is Duke, a A beguiling fusion of built environment Sure, there’s Southwest Florida’s first private research university that has and coastal transition landscapes— Westin property. But people are coming a global academic reach and counts golden islands, channels and marshes— here to live. It’s not only the safest among its game-changing alumni Charleston is one of North America’s city in the nation, it’s also one of the Melinda Gates and Apple Inc. CEO Tim most architecturally significant most beautiful, ranked #8 in our Parks Cook. Duke ranks #6 in our University destinations. This easy yet kinetic & Outdoors subcategory. What Cape category. In a city that ranks #6 for seaside American treasure draws Coral lacks in the soft, sandy beaches Educational Attainment and #35 for pilgrims from all over the world, of its neighboring islands it more than Weather, it’s not surprising that the propelled by global travel media and makes up for in riverfront vistas and 55-acre Sarah P. Duke Gardens and the promise of legendary Southern outdoor pursuits galore. It’s also one of lively neighborhoods like Rockwood and hospitality from an ideal, forgotten the most accessible, with Southwest South Square are mere steps away from epoch. The city comes in at #15 for Florida International Airport (RSW)— the campus. And just as Duke University Place, including a #7 ranking in the ranked #30 for Connectivity—a mere connects Durham to the world, country for Parks & Outdoors. A city rich 30-minute drive after baggage claim. Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a in cultural, natural and military heritage, The city is attractive to students, too, 20-minute drive from campus, puts this Charleston nabs a Top 10 spot in our who are drawn to the easy lifestyle small North Carolina city on the flight Museums category. Set to open next and a dozen colleges and community paths of nine carriers. With 400-plus year, the International African American colleges within 50 miles of the city nonstop flights per day to more than Museum will illuminate the influential, center. Increasingly, graduates are 50 destinations (before the pandemic), under-reported histories of Africans and putting down roots. According to Yahoo and its Refresh campus improvement their descendants in South Carolina, Finance, more than 50% of Millennials program in full effect, this facility earns highlighting their diasporic connections in the region own homes—the third Durham the #23 spot among American throughout the nation and the world. highest rate in the nation. The booming cities in our Connectivity subcategory. The museum’s defining feature will be its Pine Island Road and Pine Island Village location at the historic site of Gadsden’s development will go a long way to Wharf. Nearly half of captive Africans sate residential demand in the area. forced to North America in the slavery era arrived through Charleston, and today millions of Americans can trace their ancestors here.

RESONANCECO.COM 33 47 PORTLAND 48 NEW HAVEN 49 EL PASO MAINE CONNECTICUT TEXAS

POPULATION METRO 535,420 POPULATION METRO 857,620 POPULATION METRO 844,723

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

13 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 2 UNIVERSITY RANKING 3 SAFETY

17 SAFETY 33 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 7 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS

Enviable streetscapes and With its top-ranking Yale University, A border town taps into its plentiful arts and culture help New Haven has long exuded a strategic attributes to create this Maine gem punch above its quiet influence on the union. a prosperous sanctuary. weight for talent attraction. New Haven prides itself on its tree-lined Safe (the “Safest City in America!” if In 2014, Portland, Maine, decided to streets and charming historic homes, you listen to loud and proud Mayor officially declare what pretty much with a #67 rank for Sights and Landmarks Dee Margo, even though we have it at everyone knew. “Yes. Life’s good here,” among America’s cities. Cost of living is #3 in the category), progressive and is a patented city brand that some higher than elsewhere, as is crime, but increasingly basking in the fruits of might interpret as a little smug, if it most residents say they wouldn’t trade its 2012 $500-million bond initiative weren’t for the fact that Portland keeps the bustle of students, workers and that funded a Children’s Museum, new working to make life even better. The tourists for the diversity and vibrancy arena, cultural center and more—all city ranks #37 for Place, our measure it brings. The town also boasts Yale downtown—the city is also cooking of the natural and built environment, University, which has educated many in the literal sense, ranking #43 for but that’s hardly a contest: there are six of the country’s best and brightest; it’s its culinary scene. But the boom is unfairly picturesque lighthouses in the also the cultural and economic center tapping the city’s history, too. “The city area, and the city’s weathered wharfs, of this leafy city, whose residents take mothballed its streetcar system in the cobblestone passageways and historic full advantage of all the resources on 1970s,” said Destination El Paso CEO buildings thrive in the fresh salt air, offer in a capital of power and prestige. Bryan Crowe. “We brought back the so much so that the city’s waterfront Yale earns New Haven a #2 ranking perfectly preserved streetcars to service Commercial Street was declared one of for University, and about 35% of adult our newly expanded medical schools.” the 10 best streets in the country by the residents have at least a bachelor’s Today the streetcar travels a 4.8-mile American Planning Association. The Old degree, earning New Haven a solid #42 route in two loops through El Paso’s Port holds equal charms, particularly rank for Educational Attainment. Yale uptown and downtown areas. Fortified at night, when live music, waterfront (including its medical center) is also by its roots as a cowboy town, El Paso is pubs and Maine’s justly famous the city’s largest employer and largest leveraging its regional pride by enticing microbreweries unleash merriment. taxpayer, making this effectively a scattered locals back home, while A #41 ranking for Neighborhoods is company town. New Haven has stood embracing its border-city advantage. A notable for Portland's size. The city is firm in the face of the economic crisis, #7 ranking in our Foreign-Born Residents also an impressive economic performer, boasting the nation’s sixth-lowest subcategory points to the city’s ranking #25 in our Prosperity category, unemployment as of May 2020. Yale’s population mostly of Hispanic origin including #30 for Household Income world-class museums and picturesque (80%). It doesn’t get more Tex-Mex and #18 in Income Equality, despite a gothic campus might be enough of a than here, where many residents lack of Fortune 500 companies locally. draw for visitors, but the rest of historic speak a foreign language—in this case, New Haven is also beguiling to visitors overwhelmingly Spanish—at home. and new residents.

RESONANCECO.COM 34 50 RICHMOND 51 HARTFORD 52 INDIANAPOLIS VIRGINIA CONNECTICUT INDIANA

POPULATION METRO 1,303,621 POPULATION METRO 1,206,300 POPULATION METRO 2,048,428

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

18 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 15 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 15 ATTRACTIONS

26 SIGHTS AND LANDMARKS 17 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 18 CONVENTION CENTER

Mellow and understated by Connecticut’s capital is prosperous, Indy is rich in experiences and design, Richmond’s is a quiet safe and delightfully bookish. events, but its housing affordability influence on the union. is the real reason to fall for this With deep roots as an original American Midwest gem. Richmond may radiate a “genteel and town, first as a Connecticut River understated nature” as the New York trading post in 1633 and today one of It’s difficult to overestimate the Times observed, but things happen the country’s most prosperous and well- powerful influence a strong sports here. It’s a wealthy city, ranking #19 educated cities, Hartford’s investment brand can have on the perception in Prosperity, including #18 for the in city building is paying off. It’s home and profile of a city. Indianapolis presence of Fortune 500 companies to America’s oldest public park, and might owe its fame to the century-old in town. The city is also faring well so respects visionaries with things like a auto race known as the Indianapolis far in mitigating job losses amidst the sculpture park dedicated to Lincoln 500 but this Midwest metropolis economic crisis, with the 23rd-lowest and Katharine Hepburn’s gravesite. It has plenty to offer, even if you don’t unemployment rate in the nation as revels in its role nurturing Mark Twain’s have a need for speed. Come for the of May 2020. Richmond also punches childhood imagination, which would sparkling airport, world class cultural above its weight in our deep Place fuel the celebrated author for decades. institutions and bustling nightlife, stay category—with a #26 ranking for its But Hartford doesn’t dwell in the past. for affordable neighborhoods and Sights and Landmarks, a subcategory Ranking #10 in our Prosperity category family-friendly entertainment. True to that tracks neighborhoods. Experience (including #15 for Household Income, its reputation as the capital of speed, modern Richmond in the neighborhood #23 for Fortune 500 Companies and Indianapolis is home to workers who of Jackson Ward, once the epicenter of the eighth-lowest unemployment rate fuel a diverse economy anchored by the city’s Black culture; the restaurants in the nation among large cities as of three Fortune 500s—ranking it #31 and galleries of Broad Street reward May 2020), this “insurance capital of nationally—and some of the shortest exploration on foot or bike. The James the world” is investing in its thriving arts commutes of any metro area. Indy has River Park System sees more than a and entertainment scene, a revitalized plenty of attractions to call its own. million visitors a year clamber over rocks riverfront and even more parks and Destinations like the picturesque Canal in the river, launch paddleboards and public gardens. With a #17 ranking for Walk promenade, the Indianapolis kayaks, swim and inner tube. But it is the Educational Attainment by its citizenry, Museum of Art and the Children’s artistic face of Richmond that surprises it seems like the smart thing to do. Museum of Indianapolis (the largest the most: there are more than 100 institution of its kind in the world) murals painted in the city by artists from helped earn Indy an impressive #15 around the world and, every September, rank in the Attractions subcategory. the RVA Street Art Festival invigorates neglected areas, benefits Richmond arts charities and puts on a great local party.

RESONANCECO.COM 35 53 PITTSBURGH 54 ALBUQUERQUE 55 DETROIT PENNSYLVANIA NEW MEXICO MICHIGAN

POPULATION METRO 2,324,743 POPULATION METRO 916,791 POPULATION METRO 4,326,442

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

15 UNIVERSITY RANKING 14 WEATHER 12 CONVENTION CENTER

20 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 18 SHOPPING 13 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES

America’s city of industry is Where transcendent natural The world seems to be rooting gearing up to supply the global beauty and a lifetime of for Comeback City. It’s got a new economy all over again. outdoor pursuits meet. arena, culture, streetcar...and its unshakeable local pride. It’s Steel City, City of (440!) Bridges, Diverse cultures, authentic art and Andy Warhol’s hometown and birthplace dynamic traditions have helped shape Detroit is a city on a long, long roller- of the NFL’s “Stillers.” In fact, sports a centuries-old story in Albuquerque. coaster ride: it’s been on top of the tourism is huge in Pittsburgh, home There’s the vintage neon glow world, it’s been as low as you can go, of the Penguins, Steelers and Pirates. of Route 66, the pink hues of the and tomorrow will undoubtedly bring According to a study done by the Sandia Mountains at sunset and the both new hills and new thrills. Call it three sports franchises, over the cottonwood bosque of the Rio Grande. Motor City, the D, Comeback City…they last five years sports tourism led to ABQ ranks #47 in our Product category— all apply and more. Certainly, Comeback numerous jobs, $6 billion in direct/ indicative of deep infrastructure and City was appropriate in spring 2018, indirect spending and $73 million in local investment—including a #19 when Detroit emerged from bankruptcy, state and local tax revenue. The city ranking in the Museums subcategory. where it had struggled since 2013. knows how to kick back, too: it ranks In a city rich in cultural heritage from And there were encouraging words for #29 for great nightlife and #31 for its Spain, Mexico and, of course, its the tourism industry—which, before culinary scene, making it a place of Indigenous peoples, the architecture the pandemic, welcomed 19 million work and play. Even when the teams is also diverse. The cuisine is also visitors annually who spent more than are traveling, sports venues generate influenced and inspired by a colorful $6 billion. The city even ranks #15 for direct spending. In 2019, Heinz Field (and spicy) palate: green and red Instagram Hashtags. The 6.6-mile hosted Garth Brooks and the largest chiles are staples—even in desserts. QLine streetcar—named after Quicken crowd ever in that venue. The city lands Despite this daring gastronomy, people Loans, which bought naming rights— at #16 for Professional Sports Teams, a still won’t believe you when you tell has been operational on the Woodward subcategory under the larger Product them that Albuquerque ranks #34 for Corridor for a few years. Yet more than category. It’s also home to Carnegie Restaurants in America. ’Burque, in local $7 billion in investment has poured Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh parlance, is also a cultural hot spot, into the corridor route since 2013. Medical Center, which helps explain its stacked with more than 100 galleries, More than 200 development projects #15 University ranking and an overall a symphony orchestra, theaters and have been completed, are under sense of practicality and stewardship even an opera scene that’s getting construction or planned throughout (and why urbanist and author Richard national attention. It also seems to be Downtown, Midtown, New Center and Florida launched his career here). Case resilient in the face of the health and the North End. The city’s #13 ranking in point; the city had the ninth-lowest economic crisis, with the 13th-lowest for Fortune 500 Companies should COVID-19 infection rate as of July 8, rate of COVID-19 infections in the nation improve with all the new infrastructure. 2020 among the nation’s large cities. as of July 8, 2020, and the 13th-lowest unemployment rate as of May 2020.

RESONANCECO.COM 36 56 BOISE 57 OGDEN 58 CINCINNATI IDAHO UTAH OHIO

POPULATION METRO 732,257 POPULATION METRO 676,948 POPULATION METRO 2,189,442

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

11 SAFETY 1 INCOME EQUALITY 20 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES

37 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES (TIE) 17 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 26 ATTRACTIONS

One of the fastest-growing cities A city prospers off the outdoors. From The Banks on the Ohio in the country entices with the River to Over the Rhine, from promise of plentiful jobs and Sitting nearly 4,300 feet above sea level baseball to music to beer, along the northern end of the Wasatch after-work outdoor adventure. Cincinnati is most entertaining. Mountain range just 35 miles from Boise, with an almost 20% population Salt Lake City, Ogden appeals mightily Cincinnati has been simmering just spike in the past decade, is an American to the avid outdoor set. But it has an under the surface of national tourism West boomtown where access to the urban wild side too, with events like the awareness for a few years now, but outdoors, a strong economy thanks to its annual Witchstock fest (complete with in 2018 it leapt into the Top 10 of the booming tech sector, and a lower cost a Zombie Crawl) and the family-friendly list every place wants to be on. At #8 of living than many other cities similar Harvest Moon Celebration. Outdoor on the New York Times 52 Places to in size is drawing people in from all over products form one of the city’s key Visit in 2018, Cincinnati earned some the country. Despite ranking outside of industries, along with IT and life sciences enviable and well-deserved awareness, the Top 50, Boise finished #19 in both (specializing in biopharmaceuticals and particularly for its programming our deep Place category, including #11 medical devices). Another is aerospace strengths. It ranked high in our report for Safety. It’s also a place where things and advanced manufacturing, the as well: the city is #32 for Culture, #28 get done and local business hustles, city being situated in the heart of the for Restaurants and #26 for Nightlife. ranking #31 in our Prosperity category, sector’s cluster two miles from Hill Air The architecturally glorious 140-year- led by 13th-lowest unemployment rate Force Base. Combine these powerful old Music Hall is recently reopened and in the nation amidst the pandemic, industries and you get one of the most is home to the symphony, ballet and as of May 2020. Known as the “Austin well-off—and overlooked—cities in the opera; it joins an expanded Ensemble of the North,” Boise’s tech scene is nation. Ogden ranks #2 among American Theatre Cincinnati and a new home for becoming well known at a rapid pace. cities in our coveted Prosperity category, the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to It’s anchored by the tech giant Micron including tops in the Gini Index of give the Over the Rhine neighborhood Technology and blossoming in all sorts Income Equality and #17 for Household real cultural chops. The huge interactive of interesting start-ups. Also adding Income. Ogden not only creates wealth fountain facing the Music Hall in to its allure are mountains, a desert for citizens, it distributes it, too. Given Washington Park is an all-ages frolic and a river all within striking distance. the city’s #104 ranking in our Promotion and a pure pleasure for families day and Floating the Boise River, hiking around category, don’t feel too bad about never night. The city ranks #26 for Attractions. the foothills or fishing at the Swan Falls having heard about this gem. The state Dam all make it possible for Boise to is investing in the city’s future, with a perform so well in our Place category, new 5.3-mile bus rapid transit line from which ranks Weather (#27) and Parks & downtown to Weber State University and Outdoors (#41), among other factors. McKay-Dee Hospital. The $91.9-million project calls for bus lanes and a transit center on campus.

RESONANCECO.COM 37 59 MILWAUKEE 60 DES MOINES 61 ALBANY WISCONSIN IOWA NEW YORK

POPULATION METRO 1,576,113 POPULATION METRO 655,409 POPULATION METRO 883,169

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

18 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES 20 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 22 UNIVERSITY RANKING

27 NIGHTLIFE 24 HOUSEHOLD INCOME 25 HOUSEHOLD INCOME

A sudden destination city, one The affordability brings the soul Central, prosperous and in which tourists outnumbered while entrepreneurs and head sophisticated, New York State’s residents 10 to one during peak offices serve up plenty of jobs. As capital knows its worth. times throughout the year. Really. young talent reconsiders big cities, Anchored on the shore of the Hudson Des Moines checks a lot of boxes. According to the Wisconsin Department River, Albany holds the political power of Tourism, some 23 million tourists Set on the Des Moines River among despite being overshadowed by visited the Milwaukee area in 2016— the state’s famous rolling cornfields, that other New York city downriver. and it's been climbing ever since Iowa’s state capital is a business mecca Incredibly connected by road, rail and (pandemic excepted), which resulted with an artsy side, bustling late into the the #58-ranked airport in America, in an economic impact of more than evening with a blend of daring culture Albany offers a prosperous place to $3.7 billion for the city in 2018 alone. and heartland hospitality. Add in the put down roots, resulting in Top 25 So what’s luring these millions of low, low cost of living, and is it any household income and educated tourists to this urban center in the wonder prairie-cool Des Moines, which citizenry (#27 in our Educational American Heartland? On America’s earns our #17 ranking for Prosperity, Attainment subcategory). New York’s third coast, Wisconsin’s largest city is one of the fastest-growing cities Capital Region is not all politics, combines cherished traditions and in the Midwest? Des Moines earns an though—Albany’s also a capital of modern attitude. It celebrates its beer impressive #24 ranking in our Household culture, and it boasts an enviable brewing heritage and offers a vibrant Income subcategory. Also impressive central location, with the Berkshires, farm-to-table culinary scene—an is the city’s Top 10 performance (#9) Adirondacks and burgeoning Finger obvious asset to a city with a century in the Gini Index of Income Equality. Lakes Wine Region—and, yes, the of feeding and brewing for a continent. Major corporate outposts of Nationwide Big Apple—all just a few hours away. A jack of all trades but master of none and Wells Fargo round out the thriving Running the Empire State may be big in our categories, the city will improve finance and insurance sector, which business, but Albany’s also a college based on its ascent as a cruise ship boasts a $3-billion annual payroll. town, home to a State University of destination. In 2019, 10 passenger ships And in the golden-domed State New York campus that helps the city docked here, more than double from Capitol, lawmakers are working to earn a #22 ranking in our University 2018. In 2022 plans are for Viking to ensure a friendly business climate subcategory. Albany prides itself launch new Great Lakes cruises, with with temptingly low corporate taxes. on its history, and its 18th-and 20 that start or end in Milwaukee. Plans Business might be booming, but that 19th-century homes and compact, to expand the downtown Milwaukee doesn’t mean cost of living is: Des walkable core let visitors and locals convention center (the Wisconsin Moines remains affordable, with housing take to the streets, enjoying an Center) are also moving forward, with costs at about two-thirds the national emergent dining scene that’s poised construction expected to begin next average. With that, the burgeoning for big things post-pandemic. year and sure to improve the city’s #44 cultural scene and friendly Midwest ranking for its convention center. attitude, Des Moines is a city to watch.

RESONANCECO.COM 38 62 JACKSONVILLE 63 RIVERSIDE 64 OKLAHOMA CITY FLORIDA CALIFORNIA OKLAHOMA

POPULATION METRO 1,534,701 POPULATION METRO 4,622,361 POPULATION METRO 1,396,445

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

21 PARKS & OUTDOORS 3 WEATHER 20 WEATHER

25 FACEBOOK CHECK-INS 15 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS 36 MUSEUMS

Florida’s fastest growing Prosperity, great weather and Oklahoma City is building on a good city is the next destination multiculturalism make Riverside a thing and shoring up its future. for talent and tourists. city of opportunity like few others. As a long-time business center for the Young professionals are lured to Jax for They call it the City of Arts and energy, biosciences and aerospace jobs as well as its low cost of living. With Innovation, but Riverside, on the sectors, this is a city where linear just a short drive to beaches and the outskirts of Los Angeles, also lays thinking just doesn’t cut it. Yes, there country’s largest urban parks system claim to being the birthplace of is a new $288-million convention (giving it a #21 ranking on our Parks & the California citrus industry, a fact center opening downtown in late Outdoors subcategory), Jacksonville honored at the 248-acre California 2020, boasting 200,000 square feet isn’t a bad place to hang your beach hat. Citrus State Historic Park. Living up to of exhibit space, a 35,000-square-foot With top jobs in aerospace, financial its name, Riverside is also home to the ballroom and 50,000 square feet of services and IT, Jacksonville is home Riverside Metropolitan Museum and Fox additional space paired with a prime to companies like Bank of America Performing Arts Center, a 1929 theater location near the Myriad Botanical Merrill Lynch, Mayo Clinic, JP Morgan built in Spanish Colonial Revival style in Gardens. But there is also the opening Chase, Citi, Johnson & Johnson and the heart of downtown. The city boasts of the only urban whitewater rafting Aetna, giving the city high marks in our one of the nation’s most ethnically facility in the world. Already designated Fortune 500 Companies subcategory diverse populations, ranking #15 in the as an official Olympic and Paralympic (tied at #37). Jax also has bragging Foreign-Born Residents subcategory. training site, Oklahoma City is creating rights to a diverse workforce, making Hispanic citizens make up 53% of the the finest rowing racecourse in the it a more inclusive and welcoming city city’s population, while nearly 44% of world while investing $25 million in a for all types of workers. With 22 miles citizens speak a non-English language. public whitewater kayaking facility for of beaches and access to the winding Like a reflection of the community all skill levels. This builds on the 2016 St. Johns River, Jacksonville is filled around it, University of California, opening of the city’s whitewater rafting with natural amenities to enjoy nearly Riverside (ranked #36 in our University facility, Riversport OKC, one of only all year round in the Florida sunshine. subcategory), is one of the nation’s six man-made white water courses in And if outdoorsy activities aren’t your most ethnically varied post secondary the country. The city was also chosen idea of a good time, you could always institutions. Riverside also performs as one of four communities to receive indulge in the local sports scene— well in our Place category (#23), which a multi-year grant from the Outdoor whether you’re cheering for the Jaguars includes Safety (#34) and the third-best Foundation, which aims to make getting or their quirkily named minor league weather in the country—that is, only if outside part of the fabric of peoples’ baseball team, the Jumbo Shrimp. you enjoy 277 days of sunshine annually. lives by providing repeat experiences of fun, joy and learning in the outdoors for kids and families of all backgrounds.

RESONANCECO.COM 39 65 NORTH PORT 66 LEXINGTON 67 WORCESTER FLORIDA KENTUCKY MASSACHUSETTS

POPULATION METRO 821,573 POPULATION METRO 516,697 POPULATION METRO 947,866

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

4 SAFETY 24 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 20 SAFETY

29 GOOGLE SEARCH 31 SAFETY 26 HOUSEHOLD INCOME

New homes and opportunities are The energetic metro races to expand. A city characterized by deep springing up in abundance in the thinkers and bold designers. naturally stunning Florida city. The Paso Fino, Friesian and Lipizzaner: these are among the 50 breeds at Higher education thrives in the Heart Sarasota County’s North Port has the Kentucky Horse Park, a major draw in of the Commonwealth. Worcester is distinction of being the only metro in the city known as the Horse Capital home to 10 colleges and universities Florida to have an entire state forest of the World. However, there’s far and more than 35,000 students. New within city limits. When they’re not more to this Bluegrass Region metro England’s second-largest city ranks an hiking, biking or horseback riding in the than thoroughbreds and ponies. The impressive #32 for People, including 8,600-acre Myakka State Forest or on birthplace of bourbon made our Top #36 for Educational Attainment the city’s other 400 acres of parkland, 50 for Nightlife, at #48, with everything (more than 30% of residents hold a residents are canoeing or kayaking from party-bike bar hopping to the bachelor’s degree or higher) and #41 along the Myakka River or North Port’s Bluegrass Trail for craft beer lovers. for Foreign-Born Residents (more than 80 miles of freshwater canals. Then With Kentucky’s largest mall, the city 21%). With manufacturing, education there’s Warm Mineral Springs Park, a ranked #57 for Shopping. Those two and healthcare driving economic peaceful pond with up to 51 minerals subcategories contributed to the city’s performance, the city also has a growing and a year-round temperature of 85 overall #66 spot for Programming. “Lex” professional, scientific and technical degrees. Combine North Port’s natural is also relatively big on TripAdvisor, sector and a Prosperity ranking of #51 attributes with a balmy clime (ranking ranking #53 for total reviews, which among American cities. The city is #45 for Weather), plus one of the lowest helped its #71 Promotion ranking. investing in its future with multiple major crime rates in the nation, at #4, and the Lex can toot its own horn for the projects in the works. One CitySquare Sunshine State city lands in our Top 25 $220-million, 800,000-square-foot is a part of a multiphase $565-million for the important Place category (#22). mixed-use City Center downtown, in redevelopment downtown, with The city has targeted five key industries the final stages of opening with two housing, hotels, parking, a hospital for growth: healthcare, education, hotels, luxury condos and more. Then expansion and more. Main Street light manufacturing, hospitality and there’s the $275-million expansion Reimagined is an $11-million overhaul retail trade. Its finances are healthy: the to Lexington Convention Center’s in collaboration with the Urban Culture 2019 opening of CoolToday Park, the Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, Institute to increase walkability, Atlanta Braves’ spring training facility, originally slated to be fully open by incorporate public art and instill a sense is expected to pump $34 million into 2022, although the COVID-19 outbreak of place on the city’s main strip. the economy over the next 30 years, will inevitably delay the project. while the West Villages community is an economic mainstay: construction is expected to continue for at least another 50 years, with 10,600 new homes being built, pandemic-willing.

RESONANCECO.COM 40 68 ROCHESTER 69 LOUISVILLE 70 CLEVELAND NEW YORK KENTUCKY OHIO

POPULATION METRO 1,071,082 POPULATION METRO 1,296,815 POPULATION METRO 2,057,009

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

17 UNIVERSITY RANKING 22 SHOPPING 8 CONVENTION CENTER

29 ATTRACTIONS 29 CULTURE 28 INSTAGRAM HASHTAGS

The faded industrial Great Lakes A bourbon boom, a culinary Cleveland’s ascent is undeniable, titan still has a lot working for it. hotspot, a horse race for the ages and powered by its embrace of second- the heart of The Greatest. There’s tier city cool and affordability. Look back through its history far nothing this city doesn’t have. enough and you’ll discover that There are few American cities with Rochester, just a shade above a million It’s easy to love Louisville; the city a rebirth story like Cleveland’s. More in population today, was one of the checks lots of boxes as a tourism than 50 years after the Cuyahoga country’s first boomtowns. The fertile destination to visit and a place to River (in)famously caught fire in 1969, Genesee River Valley fueled a boom in live: it’s prosperous (tied at #37 for Cleveland today is poised like it hasn’t flour mills, then manufacturing, then Fortune 500 companies located here). been since the town was known as again with world-rattling innovation, Then there’s its uncountable varieties “The City of Champions” for its sports from Kodak to Western Union to of craft bourbon and some 2,500 domination. Consider that, since 2000, Xerox. Today, the third-largest city in restaurants, several manned by James the city has been the recipient of an 80% New York State may no longer boast Beard honorees—giving Louisville a increase in reported Millennial residents. the head offices it once did, but the #39 ranking for Restaurants. The city A huge attribute of this rise is the redbrick, old-world charm, stately is also the birthplace of the Louisville increasingly diversified university and homes (now so affordable) and legacy Slugger, baseball bat of legend Babe college landscape and the welcoming of research and development remain Ruth—you can visit the factory and environment catering to student life. So entrenched. Several of the region’s museum, and watch the manufacture is a still-healthy number of Fortune 500 universities (including the University of of one of the 1.8 million bats that are companies in town (#23 in the nation) Rochester and Rochester Institute of made every year. If your idea of a home and relatively affordable, plentiful Technology, ranked #17 nationally in our run is The Greatest, there’s the three- housing stock. Tourists, too, continue University subcategory) have renowned level Muhammad Ali Center. And, of to flood in, with 19.2 million—a new research programs. The city’s ranking course, the most famous horse race in record—arriving in 2018. They’re drawn of #32 in Educational Attainment by the world. If you miss Derby Day, you can by Cleveland’s compact and revitalized citizens and Top 50 in Safety speak bet on Churchill Downs’ on-site museum downtown—with its impressive cache volumes about the good hands that to deliver the flavor. No surprise that of underrated 19th-century architecture steer this former industrial titan. Louisville is #31 in our ranking for and stately industrial streetscapes— Attractions; those are only a few of all walkable and dotted with daring myriad offerings that run the gamut. restaurants tucked next to old favorites. This is a city with a Museum Row—and a The city, keen to keep its ascent going, is #35 ranking in our Museums category. already positioning for a new COVID-19 reality, lauding access by car and less- crowded streets.

RESONANCECO.COM 41 71 PROVIDENCE 72 PALM BAY 73 FRESNO RHODE ISLAND FLORIDA CALIFORNIA

POPULATION METRO 1,621,337 POPULATION METRO 596,849 POPULATION METRO 994,400

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

8 UNIVERSITY RANKING 8 SAFETY 8 WEATHER

34 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS 31 INCOME EQUALITY 14 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS

Fresh air and fresh faces rule Open natural spaces inspire The urban heart of central in America’s smallest state. entrepreneurs ready for take-off California is also the state’s on Florida’s Space Coast. breadbasket—with an The smallest state in America has a impressive restaurant scene capital city with plenty of big ideas, a From the fishing pier and sandy big on the local bounty. lot of very smart and creative people beach at Castaways Point Park to the and a happening nightlife. Home to fully handicapped and special needs While often overshadowed by its coastal an Ivy League college, one of the best accessible playground at Inspiration peers, Fresno, the largest inland city in design schools in the country and a Park, Palm Bay values its 29 green California at almost one million people, major culinary institute, Providence spaces. Along with the 200-acre Fred is much more than a farming town. The sure packs a big punch for such a small Poppe Regional Park, golf courses, city is also a hub for manufacturing, city. The city boasts Brown University, Turkey Creek Sanctuary and beaches, education and healthcare. Its central ranking #8 in the University subcategory so much park space earned the coastal location, about halfway between Los among all large U.S. cities. It also boasts city #35 spot for Parks & Outdoors. Angeles and Silicon Valley, propel its plenty of fresh air to go along with the Combine the natural endowment with convention center to #54 in the country. fresh perspectives of academia. Start one of the country’s lowest crime rates Of course, farming is important too. your ramble at the Rhode Island School (#8) and the result is a #28 ranking Fresno County’s economic output of Design Museum of Art, which offers overall for Place, a category that also from agriculture adds up to $8.3 billion a collection featuring some 84,000 includes Sights and Landmarks and annually, providing ample opportunity artifacts from ancient Rome, Egypt Weather. Manufacturing thrives here, for its large foreign-born population and Greece, as well as modern Eames led by defense and semiconductor (#14). The city’s revitalizing downtown furniture and Frank Lloyd Wright stained- firms. Being four miles to the Florida is poised to transform even more within glass windows. Brown University’s Institute of Technology and 48 miles to the next decade with the arrival of historic campus on 18th-century College the John F. Kennedy Space Center, the California’s high-speed rail system. For Hill is not far, and you can wander the Space Coast city also has a growing now, it’s the center of a vibrant farm- tree-lined streets, where an impressive technology industry. Looking ahead, to-table restaurant scene (#50). Near- collection of beautiful Georgian-style Palm Bay seeks to revitalize its Bayfront perfect weather (#8) and easy access homes sit side by side. district adjacent to Indian River Lagoon, to Yosemite and Sequoia National a plan that would include an accessible Parks also make Fresno popular with public waterfront, with a recommended the outdoors set, increasingly looking budget of $29 million, by 2024. for solitary pursuits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RESONANCECO.COM 42 74 FAYETTEVILLE 75 GRAND RAPIDS 76 HARRISBURG ARKANSAS MICHIGAN PENNSYLVANIA

POPULATION METRO 553,795 POPULATION METRO 1,069,405 POPULATION METRO 574,659

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

24 PROSPERITY 13 SAFETY 7 INCOME EQUALITY

54 UNIVERSITY RANKING 14 INCOME EQUALITY �� CONVENTION CENTER

An outdoor gem in the Ozarks A cool urbanism runs through this This Pennsylvania powerhouse has is powered by its university and Michigan city’s deep sense of place. economic horsepower to spare. the diversity of its citizens. Sure, it gets cold in Grand Rapids, which The state capital on the banks of Situated in the Ozark Mountains with ranks a dismal #98 for Weather, but that Susquehanna River with views of more than 200 days of sunshine a doesn’t keep residents of Michigan’s the Appalachians’ Blue Ridge is year, Fayetteville has plenty of outdoor laid-back second city from living all the economic heart of about 400 play to offer. Home to the University of four seasons outdoors. That might surrounding communities, including Arkansas and its nearly 28,000 students, mean paddling along the state’s longest Hershey. With the government as the the Natural State municipality is also river, taking in ArtPrize (the annual main employer, other key sectors considered the entertainment capital international art competition), sampling include health services and technology. of northwest Arkansas, with everything brews at the Michigan Brewers Guild Home to City Island, a mile-long 63-acre from live music to street performances. Winter Beer Festival—or simply enjoying oasis accessible by car or walking The city is financially solid, with a Top 25 life in the growing city that retains its bridge that was used as a resting spot overall ranking for Prosperity in America small-town feel. Locals insist that you for soldiers during the Civil War, historic (#24), including #50 for Fortune 500 can’t miss the stunning Frederik Meijer Harrisburg ranked well for Prosperity Companies, and seemingly pandemic- Gardens & Sculpture Park, a sprawling (#28), including an impressive group proof employment numbers. The city complex of botanical treasures accented of Fortune 500 companies (tied at boasted the third-lowest unemployment by the work of international artists. #37). Truly impressive is the city’s #7 in the nation as of May 2020. It also But that’s not the only celebration ranking for its performance in the Gini ranks well in our People category, with of creativity in this cultured city. Income Equality Index. The city also plenty of diversity (#46). Key industries Architecture buffs will want to schedule landed at #73 for Product, a category include education and technology, with a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Meyer that includes Convention Center size. civil engineering about to get a major May House, and the enormous Alexander The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex boost: the U of A’s new $13.8-million, Calder statue outside City Hall can also and Expo Center boasts more than 37,4000-square-foot Civil Engineering be found on the city’s official logo. Grand a million square feet of exhibition, Research and Education Center at the Rapids is clean, friendly and safe (with meeting and banquet space. Harrisburg Arkansas Research and Technology a stellar #13 ranking in Safety), making University is getting a major lift: a new Park, due for completion next year, will it a prime spot to raise a family. Kids $130-million, 386,208-square-foot enable testing of large-scale structural can romp through some 1,200 acres of building set to open in fall 2021 will systems and will be a hub for research, parks, as their parents enjoy the option house its Health and Science Education academic, government and industrial of cycling to work along one of the city’s Center, as well as a hotel and restaurant. partners throughout the state. many trails, even if it’s just for Active Commute Week, which sees residents ditching their cars for bikes, kayaks and other human-powered modes.

RESONANCECO.COM 43 77 ALLENTOWN 78 LANCASTER 79 WICHITA PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA KANSAS

POPULATION METRO 842,913 POPULATION METRO 543,557 POPULATION METRO 645,031

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

13 INCOME EQUALITY 3 INCOME EQUALITY 20 INCOME EQUALITY

16 SAFETY 27 SAFETY 28 WEATHER

Good fortune (and balance) From the Amish to protons, Development takes off in the fuels the city’s growth. a borough diversifies. cultural hub of Kansas.

With storied Dutch roots, the state’s The country’s oldest Amish settlement The Air Capital of the World (so named third-largest city boasts four major is here, its members getting around because of the manufacturing of hospitals, 12 post-secondary institutions, by horse and buggy and living without aircraft, its pro-aviation business and (of course) the Lehigh Valley electricity. Pennsylvania Dutch Country, environment and the largest IronPigs Minor League Baseball team. or Red Rose City, as Lancaster is concentration of aerospace Healthcare, technology, energy, also known, is further distinguished manufacturing employees in the manufacturing, professional services for having been the state capital for nation) performs consistently across and transportation dominate the a single day, by its 29 covered (or all our categories, with Product (#69) city’s robust economic scene. With “kissing”) bridges and the country’s and Programming (#70) being notable. major employers such as Fortune 500 first theater (the 1852 Fulton Opera The former includes Attractions (#59) companies Air Products & Chemicals (an House), and its central location along and Museums (#56) and Wichita has international industrial gases company the New York–Washington distribution draws such as Sedgwick County Zoo, with $8.9 billion in sales in 2019 alone) corridor. From architectural styles the Mid-America All-Indian Center, and PPL Corporation (one of the largest dating back to the 1700s to modern Ulrich Museum of Art and the Kansas regulated utility companies in the art galleries, Lancaster ranked #58 Aviation Museum. The city scores well country), Allentown ranks strong for in our Culture category. With a #33 for Programming, too, with Restaurants Prosperity among American large cities ranking for Shopping (vintage clothes, ranked #58 in the country, with more (#40), including #38 in the country for country quilts, antiques, contemporary than 1,200 establishments and 30 food Household Income and an impressive jewelry, and more), it landed at #69 trucks, as well as #63 for Culture (check #13 for performance on the Gini Income overall in our Programming category. out Wichita Grand Opera and Ballet Equality Index. It’s also safe, ranking It’s also safe, ranking #27 in the country Wichita). Development is occurring #16 in our Safety subcategory. The in the subcategory. Manufacturing, all over: in the Historic Delano District local sense of place will only increase food processing (Kellogg Company (where cowboys caroused in the 1870s with Allentown’s Neighborhood operates here), finance and insurance and ’80s) with a new extended-stay Improvement Zone’s recent approval are major employers. So is healthcare, hotel; and downtown, where the new of $21 million in financing for New York a sector that’s growing: the Penn $75-million Riverfront Stadium for Minor developers to upgrade downtown’s Medicine Lancaster General Health League Baseball opens this year (even outdoor Grand Plaza (formerly PPL Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute though the season was at risk) and Plaza) with a food hall, outdoor area is building a new $48-million Proton where developers are investing at least and new retail and office space. Center, scheduled to open in late 2021. another $75 million to turn four vacant The economic activity has propelled buildings into a hotel, health school, Lancaster into the Top 20 among culinary college and student housing. America’s most prosperous cities.

RESONANCECO.COM 44 80 BUFFALO 81 COLUMBIA 82 STOCKTON NEW YORK SOUTH CAROLINA CALIFORNIA

POPULATION METRO 1,130,152 POPULATION METRO 833,165 POPULATION METRO 752,660

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

22 GOOGLE SEARCH 19 GOOGLE SEARCH 8 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS

25 SIGHTS AND LANDMARKS 4� UNIVERSITY RANKING 12 WEATHER

Understated urban revival South Carolina’s capital city is From agricultural center to amidst one of America’s building buzz online and demand bedroom community to downtown architectural bounties. for its Southern hospitality and hot spot, Stockton is a city to understated urban tapestry IRL. watch in the Golden State. Long and erroneously viewed as a faded Rust Belt afterthought overshadowed Nobody needs to coach this South A once-sleepy agricultural town, by Toronto’s global ascent and the Carolinian city on how to leverage Stockton has recently gained kudos as a tourist magnetism of Niagara Falls, the internet to tell its story. Columbia more affordable bedroom community for Buffalo has quietly gone about its ranks high across a wide range of Silicon Valley. But there’s plenty going work of reinvention. The second most metrics including #19 in Google Search, on within its city limits. Healthcare and populated city in the state behind New confirming that over the past year education are the city’s largest sectors, York City just had invested too much people have been interested in this thanks in large part to the University capital—intellectual, economic and ascendant southern city. Columbia of the Pacific, which helps give the especially architectural—over the past also ranked #57 in TripAdvisor Reviews, city its #47 ranking in Universities and two centuries to not strive for its former meaning that people are regularly #48 ranking in Household Income. prosperity as home of the Erie Canal and talking about this city. So what’s the Manufacturing and logistics are also one of America’s largest steel, grain and buzz? Well, Columbia is the capital of major parts of the economy, providing banking centers. It is still the only city in South Carolina and the State House opportunity for Stockton’s large foreign- America where the country’s three most is a splendid tribute to Greek Revival born population (#8). Despite being an iconic architects still have buildings architecture situated in a sprawling inland city in California’s Central Valley, standing: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin garden filled with monuments. The Stockton has the unique advantage House, plus the recently restored Frank Riverbanks Zoo & Garden extends for of being home to a deep water port Lloyd Wright houses of Graycliff; Louis 170 acres along the Saluda River and connected to the San Francisco Bay. Its Sullivan’s Guaranty Building (today an features an aquarium, zoo with more revitalizing downtown just welcomed office building and bank); and, perhaps than 2,000 animals, and an inspiring its tallest building, a California most impressive, the Henry Hobson botanical garden. The local economy Superior Courthouse, and, until social Richardson-designed “Buffalo State is driven mostly by healthcare, distancing went into effect, played Asylum for the Insane,” with grounds education and defense, with two active host to numerous outdoor festivals by landscape architect Frederick Law military installations in the vicinity. and concerts that take advantage Olmsted. The complex’s 13 buildings of the excellent weather (#12). are slowly being repurposed—into a luxury hotel and co-working spaces to start. Buffalo already ranks Top 25 in our Sights and Landmarks subcategory and will only improve.

RESONANCECO.COM 45 83 MCALLEN 84 KNOXVILLE 85 MEMPHIS TEXAS TENNESSEE TENNESSEE

POPULATION METRO 865,939 POPULATION METRO 882,598 POPULATION METRO 1,350,064

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

6 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS 33 ATTRACTIONS 27 TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS

16 WEATHER �� TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS 3� MUSEUMS

The border city is an economic Knoxville’s tradition of Two centuries of creativity dynamo, fueled by Mexican- collaboration is now creating a and civil rights poise Memphis American talent and culture. food and drink scene to watch. for a bright future.

A border city with a strong automotive A walker’s paradise, downtown Tennessee’s second-largest city is industry, McAllen has seen a recent Knoxville is a treasure trove to explore an American icon that’s been quietly economic bump with the ratification and discover, from vibrant murals adding to the national lore from the of the USMCA trade deal. The metro to local music venues, historic sites bluffs and floodplains that line the area hosts 42 automotive suppliers and museums. Instead of playing eastern bank of the Mississippi River for employing 40,000 people, mostly second fiddle to nearby Asheville and more than two centuries. The heart of high-skill workers. McAllen has recently Chattanooga, Knoxville is finding its own the Delta Blues and famously home to focused on attracting companies from groove and becoming an increasingly Graceland, the “spiritual birthplace” of across the border, and saw a major prominent destination for food lovers Elvis, it is the lesser known Music City, success with the opening of a new of all tastes—the state’s first James USA, when compared to Austin and facility for the Mexican manufacturing Beard Award–winning chef, Joseph Nashville. But those two can’t hold a company Tetakawi. This diverse city Lenn, operates J.C. Holdway right guitar to Memphis’ contributions to the ranks #6 in foreign-born population, downtown. What makes the food scene Civil Rights Movement. Or its barbecue. attracting residents from near and so spectacular is the collaboration of With so many stories to tell, the city far due to its strong manufacturing local chefs with other chefs, brewers, ranks an impressive #30 nationally in economy. Others come for the quality distillers and wine makers. Group our Museums subcategory—home to of life. McAllen ranks #25 in our Place efforts, like a longtable dinner along the aforementioned Graceland and the category, with its excellent weather the middle of a downtown street in National Civil Rights Museum, and #39 (#16) and low crime rate (#18). The city 2017, have resulted in a number of for Culture. It’s not surprising others has a vibrant theater scene, including unique culinary experiences. Knoxville’s are telling the city’s stories these days: local troupes and touring Broadway scintillating fusion of small-town charm Memphis ranks a notable #27 in the productions, which are sure to thrive and big-city amenities inspires locals nation for TripAdvisor Reviews. But again once social distancing is lifted. and visitors alike to share their findings the city is also an ascendant business across social media platforms. In doing center, with legacies like the country’s so, they’ve helped the city rank #67 in first Black millionaire, J.E. Walker, and our Promotion category, which looks ranks #31 for Fortune 500 Companies at the quantity of stories, references with corporate titans including and recommendations shared online FedEx and AutoZone headquartered about a city. The city appears to here. Affordable housing—and be controlling the pandemic, too, new downtown investment— ranking #3 for COVID-19 infections per make Memphis a city to watch. 100,000 residents as of July 8, 2020.

RESONANCECO.COM 46 86 TULSA 87 GREENSBORO 88 GREENVILLE OKLAHOMA NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA

POPULATION METRO 993,928 POPULATION METRO 767,711 POPULATION METRO 906,626

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

22 WEATHER 24 SAFETY 31 CONVENTION CENTER

27 CONVENTION CENTER �� SHOPPING 48 MUSEUMS

The industrious company town History and the land’s bounty run With a location as beautiful doubles down on livability with deep in this North Carolina gem. as it is central, Greenville is a public space for the ages. open for business. And it’s A quest for diversity is part of investing in the infrastructure Can a park bring a city into the 21st Greensboro’s past, and events that to keep its momentum. century? When Tulsa philanthropist transpired in the city helped shape George Kaiser decided to create the African American legacy. Today, This compact city nestled up against Gathering Place, he made no small plan, Greensboro is a city that draws history the Blue Ridge Mountains is doing a lot aiming for a space that would “bring buffs, antique furniture shoppers of things right and its #58 ranking in our together people throughout the Tulsa and foodies. In North Carolina, fertile Product category proves it has invested area to rediscover that we are all bound farmland is a great source of pride, and well in its institutions and attractions. together by commonalities, especially Greensboro residents have a strong From the Museum and Gallery at Bob the hopes and dreams we have for our connection to the land and the food Jones University, one of America’s finest families.” In short, Kaiser, one of the 100 they put on the table. Locals and visitors collections of paintings from Italian wealthiest people in the world, wanted come together around food—at markets masters like Giotto di Bondone, to the a park that would do nothing less than like Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum and break down inequalities and attract and which has been around since 1874, and Baseball Library that allows visitors into retain talent. So he invested $465 million at unique experiences like The Barn the home where the baseball legend into 66.5 acres. The result rocketed Dinner Theatre. While the town may lived and died, Greenville’s cultural the former Oil Capital of the World into be steeped in historical significance, it credentials earn it a #48 ranking in our international headlines, and earned it continues to look forward, especially as Museums subcategory. The Greenville every possible award, including a spot it tends to its #65 Restaurant ranking. Convention Center, with 280,000 on Time magazine’s World’s Greatest Greensboro’s downtown nightlife square feet of exhibit space and 60,000 Places list. Kaiser takes the long view. “A (ranked #57) offers a special kind of square feet of meeting space, is minutes single new community commons cannot American sensibility and charm, thanks from the Greenville Downtown Airport dramatically change the trajectory of a to street corners humming with buskers and historic downtown Greenville, city by itself, of course. But so much else and bands, and cafés vibrating with earning the city a #31 ranking in the is also happening in Tulsa at the same acoustic performances. Convention Center subcategory. While time that we feel the Gathering Place Falls Park on the Reedy is a lovely can help serve as the catalyst for a more natural oasis in the center of the city, vibrant and dynamic city.” the artfully cantilevered Liberty Bridge next door is an equally impressive destination—a pedestrian walkway above the falls. The city is peppered with such gems, ranking an impressive #50 in our Attractions subcategory.

RESONANCECO.COM 47 89 SPOKANE 90 SPRINGFIELD 91 BIRMINGHAM WASHINGTON MASSACHUSETTS ALABAMA

POPULATION METRO 573,527 POPULATION METRO 631,761 POPULATION METRO 1,151,801

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

29 WEATHER 36 SAFETY 36 CONVENTION CENTER

�� INCOME EQUALITY 45 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY �� NIGHTLIFE

Impressive in nightlife, culture A history of basketball, Magic City has many new tricks. and shopping, Spokane (and its a future in biotech. $250,000 houses) is pulling priced- Before the COVID-19 outbreak, few If the fact that Theodor Geisel, aka American cities were as ascendant as out West Coasters (slightly) east. Dr. Seuss, hailed from here doesn’t Alabama’s largest. With a confluence Seattle’s real estate gold rush has as grab your attention (and you’re not of culinary talent (awards), downtown many losers as winners and those who intrigued by The Amazing World of revitalization and impressive economic missed out are headed to the beacon Dr. Seuss Museum), perhaps the fact projections, Magic City was on its across the Cascade Mountains, sparkling that the city is within New England’s way. But despite the crisis, the city’s with big-city amenities and ambition, Knowledge Corridor (the region economy—the one Forbes predicted from breweries to city planning. The surrounding Springfield and Hartford, as a Top 10 most promising job market thumping nightlife (#48 in the country) CT, with 29 colleges/universities based on net employment outlook for matches a feisty and growing culture educating more than 170,000 students) the first quarter of 2020—is holding and arts scene (Programming ranks #63 will. The economic engine of Western resilient. According to May 2020 nationally), and, prior to the pandemic, Massachusetts, which forms part of the numbers, Birmingham had the nation’s seemingly weekly restaurant openings. biotech industry’s Super Cluster, tied eighth-lowest unemployment rate. The city’s #79 Restaurants ranking is only at #37 for Fortune 500 companies and When people do return to its streets, the going to improve, given the presence reaching #70 in our Household Income city will work hard to resume its culinary of three James Beard nominated chefs category. The birthplace of basketball— trajectory, with long-time favorites like and their seeming competition to don’t let Canadians tell you otherwise— Nikki’s West and John’s Diner hopefully open as many restaurants as possible also ranked well for its size for People, at reopening quickly, along with Frank between them. Growing coverage #64, with a #55 ranking for Educational Stitt’s trio of award-winning restaurants: in the national media—from the Wall Attainment (with nearly 19% of the Highlands Bar & Grill (winner of Street Journal to the L.A. Times—will population having a bachelor’s degree James Beard Foundation Outstanding only help Spokane’s culinary star rise. or higher) and #57 for Foreign Born Restaurant), Bottega and Chez Fonfon. And so will the wineries. The city is the (nearly 10%). Manufacturing, healthcare, Clearly, the city’s #61 Restaurant urban heart of Washington’s Walla Walla, education, and life sciences keep the ranking is only temporary. Also poised Yakima and Columbia wine regions and economy robust. Since 2018, more than to welcome back eager residents and the bounty of the land can be tasted $400 million in new projects have been in-the-know tourists are the handful not only in restaurant wine lists but announced, including the forthcoming of restored historic theaters—from also at tasting rooms throughout the $37-million hotel complex at the old The Lyric, which reopened in 2016, to city. Speaking of Yakima, it produces York Street Jail site, a $14-million the Alabama Theatre. On the horizon 75% of the country’s hops—more than Educare school and an orthopedic is reopening of the art-deco Carver enough to justify Spokane’s craft beer surgery center at Baystate Health. Theatre, which served the African- boom that should be approaching 25 American community during the breweries by the time you read this. apex of the civil rights movement.

RESONANCECO.COM 48 92 AKRON 93 MODESTO 94 JACKSON OHIO CALIFORNIA MISSISSIPPI

POPULATION METRO 704,845 POPULATION METRO 549,815 POPULATION METRO 583,080

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

37 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES (TIE) 11 WEATHER 32 GOOGLE SEARCH

�� EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT 23 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS �� WEATHER

Water and wealth distinguish Already sunny and diverse, A heritage of music and the arts the Ohio metropolis. Modesto’s strategic location to draws events and new investment. Silicon Valley has the city ready Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens was once Southern hospitality, civil rights and for take-off. the family home of F.A. Seiberling, the blues: some things are deeply cofounder of the Goodyear Tire & The Central Valley city has plenty of embedded in Jackson’s very character. Rubber Company. With five buildings sun (with a #11 ranking nationally) The City with Soul also stands out dating back to 1912, including the Tudor making it a unique hub for warm- for hosting both the Dixie National Revival Manor House, and 10 gardens weather agricultural products, including Livestock Show and Rodeo (the largest on 70 acres, it’s the city’s first National almonds, tomatoes and grapes. All of such annual event east of the Mississippi Historic Landmark and the nation’s 6th that agricultural labor has attracted a River) and the USA International Ballet largest historic home open to the public. large foreign-born population, ranking Competition. The Magnolia State capital The estate is symbolic of the wealth that #23 nationally, while the city’s close is the sole North American city to stage persists here today. One of the world’s proximity to Silicon Valley gives it a the two-week long event that draws the leading polymer centers, Akron is home relatively high household income (#60). world’s top dancers every four years. to more eight Fortune 500 companies, Also worth noting is the city’s strong The engaged, arts-and-literature-loving tied at #37 in that subcategory and performance (#17 national) in the Gini town, home to Jackson State University, hitting #63 for Household Income. Index of Income Equality, ensuring ranked #58 nationally in our Museums Not surprisingly, Akron’s strongest that the city’s prosperity is relatively category and #66 for Convention category performance is in Prosperity, inclusive. In the coming years, the Center size; the 333,000-square-foot at #68. The city is making the single commute from Modesto to the world’s Jackson Convention Complex right largest infrastructure investment in largest tech companies will get a lot downtown is LEED-certified. State and its 189-year history. Akron Waterways easier with a new rail service that takes federal governments, along with the Renewed is a $300-million project advantage of the city’s historic train University of Mississippi Medical Center, that includes the nearly $200 million, station and will serve as a catalyst for are major employers, while the city has 6,000-foot-long Ohio Canal Interceptor downtown development. Modesto’s identified advanced manufacturing, Tunnel, an integrated plan that could already high Place ranking (#36) is IT and food processing among its be in the works all the way to 2040. In set to ascend with a new downtown targeted industries. Of several new other development news, downtown’s vision prioritizing pedestrian access. developments is a 30,000-square-foot, Bowery Project, a $42-million renovation Given its focus on restaurants, shops $13-million project in the arts district of six historic buildings, is projected and nightlife, the city’s poor ranking of Fondren, a neighborhood in revival, to create 2,000 jobs and $245 in our Programming category (#105 that will include a tiki bar, bowling million in revenue over 20 years. nationally) will improve as well. alley, burger restaurant and more.

RESONANCECO.COM 49 95 BAKERSFIELD 96 LITTLE ROCK 97 SYRACUSE CALIFORNIA ARKANSAS NEW YORK

POPULATION METRO 896,764 POPULATION METRO 741,357 POPULATION METRO 650,502

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

2 WEATHER 37 FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES (TIE) 24 UNIVERSITY RANKING

17 FOREIGN-BORN RESIDENTS 48 MUSEUMS 39 SAFETY

Sunny, outdoorsy and affordable, Big ambition and political A university town doubles down on Bakersfield’s energy is everywhere. capital are taking Little sustainability and talent retention. Rock to new heights. Just across the Tehachapi Mountains, “The Cuse” is the economic hub of a two-hour drive from Greater Los The largest city in Arkansas coaxes the central New York region. But after Angeles, Bakersfield has a vibrant talent and investment with aggressive two centuries of industry, Syracuse is economy and culture all its own. Its tax breaks and some of the most reinventing itself as—appropriately— economy is dominated by agriculture, affordable housing among state the Green Apple. A decade after the energy and transportation and logistics, capitals. In fact, Little Rock ties at #37 founding of the Clean Tech Center, attracting its large foreign-born nationally when it comes to attracting a clean energy business incubator workforce (ranked #17 among large U.S. and retaining Fortune 500 companies. program and one of the first of its kind cities). Kern County, where Bakersfield Chalk it up to southern hospitality, but a in the country, the incubator today is located, is the top oil-producing combination of business friendly taxes boasts 30 businesses—and growing. county in the U.S., accounting for 10% and competitive incentives helps as The commitment to cleaner industry of the nation’s production. Bakersfield’s well. A powerful and diverse corporate and livability extends to daring city amazing weather (#2) has made it a presence distinguishes Arkansas’ planning, with the city set to remove a hub for solar power generation, with capital city, situated on the banks of the 1.4-mile stretch of Interstate 81 that has numerous commercial and utility scale state’s namesake river, that will likely sliced through its downtown since the arrays constructed or proposed. As the surprise many people unfamiliar with 1950s. Replacing it will be a “community home of the Bakersfield Sound, a unique this southern city—more proof that city grid” focused on reconnecting country music genre made famous by officials have sharpened their pencils neighborhoods, easier mobility and Merle Haggard, the city is no cultural on the economic development front. placemaking. It’s all going to entice the slouch. It ranks #60 in Restaurants and Dillard’s Department Stores, Windstream thousands of University of Syracuse #27 in our important Place category. Communications and Acxiom are just students (attending the #24-ranked It’s no wonder that with Bakersfield’s a few of the national and multinational university in the nation), as well as the easy proximity to California’s natural corporations headquartered in a city legions of others attending the area’s wonders, combined with its affordable that has in the past suffered from an college and professional schools to put housing prices, it is one of the most undeserved reputation as the capital down roots. The city’s 150 parks, two popular cities for Millennials in the of an underdeveloped state known hospitals and two large summer jazz country, according to a recent National mostly for the Ozark Mountains and festivals that give the city a #68 ranking Association of Realtors report. other wilderness, and also as the in our Culture subcategory will only help place where former president Bill the retention cause. Clinton cut his political teeth.

RESONANCECO.COM 50 98 AUGUSTA 99 CHATTANOOGA 100 DAYTON GEORGIA TENNESSEE OHIO

POPULATION METRO 605,903 POPULATION METRO 558,703 POPULATION METRO 806,548

HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS

32 SAFETY 37 PARKS & OUTDOORS �� UNIVERSITY RANKING

39 WEATHER 38 SHOPPING 53 CULTURE

There’s more to life than golf in this Affordable living amidst The arts fly high in this poised hometown of the future. an outdoor bounty. aerospace hub.

Internationally famous for hosting Tucked at the base of Lookout Mountain, The first thing Dayton might bring The Masters golf tournament each on the banks of the Tennessee River, to mind is airplanes, being the place spring, Augusta was rocked earlier this Chattanooga’s Scenic City moniker is where the Wright brothers developed year when the city’s largest event was well earned, as is its “Best Town Ever” and manned the world’s first flying cancelled for only the second time ever accolades by Outside Magazine in 2015. machine. You can immerse yourself due to the COVID-19 outbreak. (The first The town certainly boasts the adrenal in all things aviation at spots such as time was World War II). Still, this layered bonafides: from climbing the Tennessee Huffman Prairie Flying Field and the and beautiful city of stately avenues Wall to all manner of self-propulsion on National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. that share the urban grid with the the river to trail running and mountain However, the Gem City is also the Savannah River and the Augusta Canal biking just outside of city limits. To say state’s epicenter of the arts. The Bach (and the iconic train tracks) seemed to nothing of craft breweries like Heaven & Society, Dayton Opera, Dayton Ballet, be holding up well, with the 10th-lowest Ale to speed recovery time. No wonder Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton unemployment rate in the country as of it ranks at #37 in our Parks & Outdoors Contemporary Dance Company and May 2020. Once the pandemic passes, subcategory. Despite the natural bounty the Dayton Playhouse are just some of the city can continue its economic and serenity, Gig City boasts internet the organizations that thrive here. The ascent—and not just from the return of speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second Contemporary Dayton and Dayton Art the 200,000 golf fans, pros and media supplied by the publicly owned Electric Institute are but two of several galleries. annually. The city is a military center Power Board (EPB). It’s also possible to Dayton performs well in our Culture and already houses Fort Gordon and its drive to Nashville and Atlanta in under subcategory, at #53. Along with a #70 20,000 employees. Things will really two hours. Companies with deep talent ranking for Nightlife, the city hit #77 take off in the next few years with the needs in town include Volkswagen and overall for Programming, a category that announcement of a U.S. Army Cyber Blue Shield of Tennessee. The city is also also includes Restaurants and Shopping. Command facility in the city. Combine nurturing business start-ups with the With strong manufacturing, healthcare, the expected job growth with average biggest business incubator in Tennessee, and IT sectors, Dayton is the state’s housing prices around $100,000 and a as well as the biggest downtown aerospace hub today and in the future, #32 ranking in our Safety subcategory innovation district of any U.S. city its size. with investments like the Air Force Life (and #39 for Weather) and you have one Oh, and the median price for a single- Cycle Management System’s recently compelling home town. family home is $187,000 according to awarding the University of Dayton local realtors, and rising quickly. Research Institute a 10-year contract worth $28.5-million to provide F-15 sustainment engineering studies.

RESONANCECO.COM 51 CLOUD GATE SCULPTURE AT MILLENNIUM PARK, CHICAGO

America’s

BY CATEGORY BY

PERFORMANCE BEST CITIES RANK CITY STATE PLACE PRODUCT PROGRAMMING PEOPLE PROSPERITY PROMOTION

1 New York New York 1 1 1 6 6 1

2 Los Angeles California 4 3 2 8 85 2

3 San Francisco California 5 11 5 2 7 5

4 Chicago Illinois 18 2 3 16 30 3

5 Washington District of Columbia 34 13 16 3 3 7

6 San Diego California 2 22 7 11 49 8

7 Las Vegas Nevada 6 4 4 42 104 4

8 San Jose California 16 37 43 1 4 25

9 Miami Florida 14 15 11 4 99 6

10 Boston Massachusetts 24 5 17 7 35 12

11 Houston Texas 48 8 8 15 47 9

12 Atlanta Georgia 67 6 23 23 22 11

13 Phoenix Arizona 11 9 15 43 16 20

14 Dallas Texas 35 10 20 18 23 13

15 Seattle Washington 52 18 9 9 18 14

16 Denver Colorado 38 14 21 14 11 17

17 Austin Texas 21 35 14 10 32 16

18 Orlando Florida 40 7 12 27 105 10

19 Honolulu Hawaii 3 41 22 17 34 37

20 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 32 12 13 29 55 19

21 Minneapolis Minnesota 70 16 27 20 8 48

22 Portland Oregon 49 29 10 25 36 21

23 Baltimore Maryland 81 17 26 28 12 30

24 Provo Utah 7 83 101 30 1 101

25 Raleigh North Carolina 45 38 41 13 26 51

RESONANCECO.COM 53 RANK CITY STATE PLACE PRODUCT PROGRAMMING PEOPLE PROSPERITY PROMOTION

26 Sacramento California 20 44 38 22 52 39

27 Nashville Tennessee 72 25 18 51 41 22

28 San Antonio Texas 31 30 19 72 71 15

29 Salt Lake City Utah 62 27 49 31 9 52

30 Tampa Florida 17 26 34 49 87 27

31 New Orleans Louisiana 44 20 6 82 106 18

32 Santa Rosa California 13 91 76 26 33 70

33 Madison Wisconsin 39 63 59 19 13 55

34 Charlotte North Carolina 74 21 33 40 74 23

35 Bridgeport Connecticut 50 105 85 5 54 105

36 Omaha Nebraska 51 48 42 53 5 60

37 Colorado Springs Colorado 30 52 48 44 14 40

38 St. Louis Missouri 76 23 24 68 39 24

39 Oxnard California 12 100 98 24 29 102

40 Columbus Ohio 54 34 30 37 37 35

41 Tucson Arizona 26 42 25 50 42 49

42 Virginia Beach Virginia 10 60 60 69 21 43

43 Kansas City Missouri 68 32 37 52 38 26

44 Durham North Carolina 69 40 82 12 76 76

45 Charleston South Carolina 15 46 36 58 72 45

46 Cape Coral Florida 8 50 47 38 94 97

47 Portland Maine 37 78 51 36 25 46

48 New Haven Connecticut 75 36 89 34 27 61

49 El Paso Texas 9 76 62 35 98 36

50 Richmond Virginia 77 56 52 39 19 44

RESONANCECO.COM 54 RANK CITY STATE PLACE PRODUCT PROGRAMMING PEOPLE PROSPERITY PROMOTION

51 Hartford Connecticut 100 68 93 21 10 89

52 Indianapolis Indiana 97 31 35 59 43 29

53 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 55 28 31 70 69 32

54 Albuquerque New Mexico 33 47 29 63 56 56

55 Detroit Michigan 99 19 45 61 96 28

56 Boise City Idaho 19 65 58 73 31 74

57 Ogden Utah 46 104 106 85 2 104

58 Cincinnati Ohio 79 33 28 71 45 53

59 Milwaukee Wisconsin 71 39 39 54 70 47

60 Des Moines Iowa 90 71 79 33 17 82

61 Albany New York 88 75 80 41 15 73

62 Jacksonville Florida 47 53 46 62 60 42

63 Riverside California 23 72 87 56 61 72

64 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 41 45 50 79 75 33

65 North Port Florida 22 87 107 46 88 59

66 Lexington Kentucky 65 85 66 45 57 71

67 Worcester Massachusetts 66 94 91 32 51 94

68 Rochester New York 103 57 53 55 48 62

69 Louisville Kentucky 73 49 32 86 64 50

70 Cleveland Ohio 105 24 40 80 100 34

71 Providence Rhode Island 80 54 65 48 83 75

72 Palm Bay Florida 28 92 92 74 62 98

73 Fresno California 29 67 73 57 103 64

74 Fayetteville Arkansas 95 89 94 60 24 100

75 Grand Rapids Michigan 63 62 71 67 66 65

RESONANCECO.COM 55 RANK CITY STATE PLACE PRODUCT PROGRAMMING PEOPLE PROSPERITY PROMOTION

76 Harrisburg Pennsylvania 85 73 88 76 28 95

77 Allentown Pennsylvania 56 79 78 75 40 99

78 Lancaster Pennsylvania 64 90 69 94 20 84

79 Wichita Kansas 57 69 70 77 67 66

80 Buffalo New York 104 51 57 65 86 31

81 Columbia South Carolina 87 84 68 87 46 38

82 Stockton California 42 106 103 66 78 91

83 McAllen Texas 25 99 99 47 107 90

84 Knoxville Tennessee 61 59 54 102 58 67

85 Memphis Tennessee 96 43 44 97 90 41

86 Tulsa Oklahoma 59 55 56 95 82 63

87 Greensboro North Carolina 43 82 64 78 97 79

88 Greenville South Carolina 89 58 67 84 79 77

89 Spokane Washington 58 74 63 88 80 78

90 Springfield Massachusetts 78 81 97 64 92 93

91 Birmingham Alabama 102 64 55 93 50 58

92 Akron Ohio 83 95 83 83 68 87

93 Modesto California 36 107 105 92 73 96

94 Jackson Mississippi 82 93 95 90 65 54

95 Bakersfield California 27 101 86 89 101 81

96 Little Rock Arkansas 91 70 75 96 63 57

97 Syracuse New York 106 77 81 81 59 80

98 Augusta Georgia 53 98 96 103 44 86

99 Chattanooga Tennessee 94 61 61 104 53 69

100 Dayton Ohio 98 80 77 91 77 83

RESONANCECO.COM 56 SHAPE THE FUTURE OF YOUR CITY, COMMUNITY OR DEVELOPMENT.

As leading advisors in tourism, real estate and economic development, Resonance helps places realize their full economic potential. We take a uniquely future-focused approach to research, strategy, branding and marketing, and help our clients understand market trends, assess strengths and weaknesses, engage local communities, create strategies, envision the future and produce branding and communications that influence their audiences.

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Resonance tracks the sentiments of the most influential Resonance has extensive experience creating consumers and travelers today, and our original strategies for destinations from cities to mixed- benchmarking and assessment methodology offers use urban developments and resort communities. new ways to understand the way people truly perceive Our destination development strategies are the and “consume” communities, cities and destinations. product of custom benchmarking and consumer This America's Best Cities report is an example of our research, stakeholder engagement and the crafting expertise in providing destinations and developers of a clear vision for the future. The result is a strategic with new tools and perspectives on the key factors roadmap that prioritizes the actions required to that shape a city’s competitive identity, community realize the full economic potential of place. wellbeing and future prosperity. Our research is used by National Geographic, and Bloomberg has called our city rankings “the most comprehensive study of its kind.”

Consumer Research Real Estate Development

Destination Assessments Tourism Development

Performance Benchmarking Economic Development

Economic Analysis

RESONANCECO.COM 57 BRANDING & MARKETING PLACEMAKING We approach the branding and marketing of places by Placemaking is a way to design underused spaces thoroughly understanding market trends, uncovering to be more enjoyable and engaging for the the aspirations of consumers and vividly articulating communities around them. Resonance placemaking sense of place in a manner that resonates with target strategies leverage the power of art, culture and audiences, be they prospective residents, visitors, experiential retail to help animate public, private tenants or investors. Brands are then propelled and under-utilized spaces, test alternative uses by marketing strategies that guide the journey of and create gathering places and unique points building audiences, credibility and meaningful of interest that draw both locals and visitors. connection. The goal isn’t merely to bring more attention, awareness and people to the brand, but to elevate the quality, value and loyalty of specific audiences in order to achieve targeted objectives.

Brand Strategy Art

Brand Identity Culture

Advertising Experience

Digital

Activation

Environment

RESONANCECO.COM 58 VANCOUVER MONTREAL NEW YORK 801 - 602 W Hastings St. 3500 St Jacques St. 110 East 25th Vancouver, BC V6B 1P2 Montreal, QC H4C 1H2 New York, NY 10010 @ResonanceCo P +1.604.681.0804 P +1.438.888.0161 P +1.646.413.8887 ResonanceCo.com E [email protected] E [email protected] E [email protected]

The Resonance Report is produced for general interest only; it is not definitive. It must not be relied upon in any way. Although high standards have been used in preparing the information and analysis presented in this report, no responsibility or liability whatsoever can be accepted by Resonance Consultancy Ltd. for any loss or damage resultant from any use of, reliance on, or reference to the contents of this document. We make no express or implied guarantee of its accuracy. Please be advised that your use of The Resonance Report document constitutes your agreement to (i) use the content under a limited license only for your own internal purposes, and (ii) not disclose, publish or otherwise make public or provide the content, in whole or in part, to any third person or entity without the prior written consent of Resonance Consultancy Ltd. The content is and remains at all times the exclusive intellectual property of Resonance Consultancy Ltd. Copyright © 2020 Resonance Consultancy Ltd.