Oakland Ranked 'America's Most Exciting City'

From a City of Oakland press release:

On Thursday, May 2, the real estate website Movoto ranked Oakland as the most exciting city in America on its roster of the “The 10 Most Exciting Cities in America.” To view the post, please visit http://www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/10-most-exciting-cities/.

“Anyone who has explored Oakland’s vibrant arts scene or hip dining spots would agree that there’s a growing energy and vitality that makes our city an exciting place to live and work,” said Mayor Jean Quan. “Word has gotten out about the beauty, diversity and excitement found in Oakland. Even The New York Times took notice when they named Oakland among the top five places to visit in the world in 2012.”

In selecting their roster of America’s most exciting cities, Movoto looked at the following ten criteria to gauge the level of excitement in a city:

● Park acreage per person

● Percent of population between 20 and 34 years old

● Fast food restaurants per square mile (the fewer the better)

● Bars per square mile

● Big box stores per square mile (the fewer the better)

● Population diversity

● Movie theaters per square mile

● Museums per square mile

● Theater companies per square mile

● Music venues per square mile

As the blog notes, “…you can think of our list as ways to fight that ever-present boredom everyone faces at some point or another.”

Movoto then surveyed the 50 most populous cities across the country, ranking them from 1 to 50 based on each individual criterion. Various websites such as Yelp and Yellow Pages were used. 

Of these ten criteria, Oakland took top honors in population diversity, movie theaters per square mile, museums per square mile and theater companies per square mile.

The post concludes, “When we think of an exciting place to live, we think about places where there is always something to do — whether it’s eating at new restaurants or jogging through a park. This sounds a lot like Oakland, so we really weren’t that surprised.”

Last month, Movoto ranked Oakland as the Second Best California City for Singles. Within just the last four months, Oakland has garnered other recognition including been named the Greenest City in the U.S., a Top 15 City for Tech Startups, among the Ten Best Cities To Have a Dog, Among the 5 Best Markets to Sell a Home,one of America’s Most Walkable Cities, Among the Top 12 ArtPlaces in the Nation and one of the Gayest Cities in America.

For links to these rankings and other recent accolades bestowed on Oakland, visit www2.oaklandnet.com/News/OAK033058.

Do you agree that Oakland is "America's Most Exciting City"? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments section below.

Don't miss a day of Rockridge news, opinion and events. Sign up here for the Rockridge Patch morning e-newsletter.

'Like' us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @RockridgCAPatch (yes, the "e" is missing from Rockridge...)