Money Magazine, Smart Money, USA Toady and other publications each year select the "best places to live in America". However, the selected cities are never in the rankings for the next year or any future year. I live in a town that was ranked 4th best several years ago and has not been listed since.
In talking with a county business developer, I was told that these listings are beauty contests with tons of money spent on marketing the town to the publications. She said that she know of several areas that had a public employee whose full time job was to market the area to these magazines and get favorable listings.
