Twelve Black Code Monkeys

Vienna 4th best place to live in the U.S.!

Money Magazine has come out with its top 100 places to live in the U.S and my town is #4 on the list. I knew there was a reason we moved here! To be fair, though, I’m sure lots of deserving towns were not in this list and many in this list are probably questionable. The problem is that the criteria are all weighted the same, whereas for different people some criteria will by far outweigh others. So while my town might be a great place for me to live, it’s probably not the right place for a whole lot of people. At least money lets you program your own criteria on their site (from a limited list) so that you can produce one that might be more customized to your own needs.

The other odd thing about how they judge towns in this article is that they do it based on the post office address. So while Vienna’s city limits comprise a fairly compact area, it’s official address stretches much further, encompassing some areas that are very different from the main parts that most people associate as Vienna. The same is true of all of these towns, so I’m sure this had a big effect. There could very well be incredible places to live, but their city name also encompasses areas on their outskirts that may have crime problems, or bad schools, or perhaps where the houses are astronomical in price.

Still, I can’t help but to be glad that my town won something like this. The last time I recall there was a big news story that featured Vienna was when Robert Hannsen was caught passing secret documents to the KGB via drop-offs in Vienna parks. Hannsen also lived in Vienna.

For anyone who is already a Vienna resident or who is thinking of moving here, a few weeks ago I set up a Yahoo! Group devoted to things Vienna. It still hasn’t quite gotten off the ground, but maybe this #4 placement will be the start of something?