Akron is nowhere to be found on U.S. News and World Report’s second annual ranking of the 100 “Best Places to Live” in the United States.
But it’s not because Akron is not a nice place to live.
It’s not even that it’s a bad place to live.
It’s just that the Rubber City, like Rodney Dangerfield used to muse, gets no respect from U.S. News and World Report.
The website, which released its rankings Tuesday, once again opted to lump Akron in with Cleveland, its more populous neighbor to the north.
So the rankings include every major city in Ohio: Cincinnati (53rd), Cleveland (84th), Columbus (57th), Dayton (75th), Toledo (71st) and Youngstown (87th).
But Akron, one of the largest communities in the state, doesn’t warrant a mention.
“We chose to do this because of how close Akron is to Cleveland; residents benefit from being able to live and work in both places,” spokeswoman Lucy Lyons said in an email.
She pointed out that Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn.; Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.; and Ogden and Provo, Utah, suffered the same fate because they are near major cities.
Despite the reasoning, some folks would like to see Akron break out on its own — or at least get mentioned in the same breath with Cleveland.
“When there’s national rankings, you at least want a shot to be ranked,” said Kyle Kutuchief, the Akron program director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation who spends his days promoting and trying to better the community.
“The reality is if we were anywhere but No. 1, I would dispute that as well,” he said with a chuckle.
“We will continue to work on making Akron one of the best places to live period.”
Angela Roloff, the general manager at Rubber City Clothing, a business that’s all about Akron, felt slighted after hearing that Youngstown gets ranked and not Akron.
“So that just hurt my soul a little bit,” she said with a laugh.
U.S. News & World Report — producers of such publications as Best Colleges, Best High Schools and Best Hospitals — based the rankings on affordability, job prospects and quality of life; data from the U.S. Census Bureau, FBI and Bureau of Labor Statistics; and its own research.
Austin, Texas, claimed the top spot after finishing second last year.
The rest of the top five are: Denver; San Jose, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; and Fayetteville, Ark.
To see the full list, go to: http://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .