24/7 Wall Street website names Hoover among 50 best cities for third year in row

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For the third year in a row, the city of Hoover has made the 24/7 Wall Street website’s list of America’s 50 best cities in which to live.

However, the city’s ranking has dropped a bit.

Hoover came in at No. 49 on the 2016 list, which was released Wednesday. That compares to No. 43 last year and No. 28 in 2014. However, Hoover still was the only city in Alabama to make the list.

The website considered 550 U.S. cities with a population of 65,000 people or more and looked at a range of variables, including crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants and attractions, educational attainment and housing affordability.

24/7 Wall Street noted that Hoover, with a population of 84,839, had a median home value of $277,900 and a poverty rate of 4.7 percent. The website also noted that 54.1 percent of all adults living in Hoover have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, a far higher percentage than is typical in both Alabama and the rest of the nation.

“With an educated population, incomes in the city are high,” the website said. “Not only does the typical city household earn $77,365 a year, but also a dollar goes further in Hoover than it does nationwide. Goods and services cost about 9 percent less in Hoover than they do across the country on average.”

24/7 Wall Street also said there are plenty of venues for culture and leisure in Hoover. The city has a higher concentration of restaurants, theater companies, recreational centers, movie theaters and libraries than most U.S. cities, the website said.

Hoover was one of 11 cities from the Southeast to make the list. Others included: No. 4 — Johns Creek, Georgia

  • No.  14 — Cary, North Carolina
  • No. 20 — Alexandria, Virginia
  • No. 22 — Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • No. 29 — Pembrooke Pines, Florida
  • No. 33 — Charleston, South Carolina
  • No. 35 — Boca Raton, Florida
  • No. 36 — Franklin, Tennessee
  • No. 38 — Cape Coral, Florida
  • No. 48 — Concord, North Carolina

The top city in the nation in which to live, according to 24/7 Wall Street, is Broomfield, Colorado (population 65,065), near Boulder and Denver. The median home value there is $342,800, and the poverty rate is 4.6 percent. More than 56 percent of adults in Broomfield have a bachelor’s degree or higher, the website said.

See the complete list of the best 50 cities in which to live here.