Arlington Ranks 27th on ‘Best Cities’ List

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by ARLnow.com September 28, 2012 at 10:20 am 7,393 97 Comments

Arlington has ranked #27 on Bloomberg Businessweek’s new 2012 list of “American’s 50 Best Cities.”

The county got high marks for having the highest median household income and the lowest rate of unemployment on the list. But while the county’s economy may be strong, Businessweek gave Arlington low marks for its bar scene.

“The city could stand to be a bit more fun — it’s held back by weak nightlife,” the magazine said of Arlington.

At #27, Arlington ranked between Chicago (#28) and Milwaukee (#26). Washington, D.C. ranked third on the list, just below second-place Seattle and first-place San Francisco. Cities were ranked based on “leisure attributes, educational attributes, economic factors, crime, and air quality.”

Hat tip to @wfpman. Photo by Steve Uzzell/Rosslyn BID.

Tabs

Weak nightlife? Maybe if you’re into ‘bottle service’ and velvet ropes.

Ridiculous article, in any case.
- Mary-Austin
  
  Or if you are into a variety of nightlife options.
  Everything in Clarendon/Ballston is pretty much the same.
  It’s people that still want the college bar scene (sloppy drunk bros and desperate gold-diggers).
  Nightlife in DC has a lot more options and I guess why they ranked way higher.
  - drax
    
    Yes, that’s both a reason Arlington’s isn’t better AND why it doesn’t matter – people can go to DC.
PearDPea

Kind of a weird list. Data indicates 12 bars but VA ABC laws don’t really allow for bars exactly. Also, like that the picture of the “city” is of the cemetery. Really a vibrant scene there
- CrystalMikey
  
  Must have been a lazy Google image searcher
B22201

“The city could stand to be a bit more fun — it’s held back by weak nightlife”

Indeed. . . the nightlife is WEAK.

But, looking at that list. I’m pretty sure Reno Nevada wouldn’t make any list I’d ever compile. Unless it’s for “Best Cities that have a TV show about cops”
- Tabs
  
  whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
  - B22201
    
    Yeah. . . the Cops show is there a lot. But I was thinking of Reno 911.
    - DrTchock
      
      tittyboozled
- dog
  
  but they have legal hookers we don’t
  - SomeGuy
    
    We do too. You just have to call it a “date,” and launder the payments through dinner and drinks.
    - Tabs
      
      Be honest: that doesn’t work for you ever.
      - SomeGuy
        
        You’re right. I don’t resort to cheap tactics… or tricks. Are you trying cyber-bully me, Tabs?
      - B22201
        
        http://library.arlingtonva.us/2012/09/24/picture-books-about-bullying-ys-collection-spotlight/ You can find books about bullying, and other great subjects at the Arlington Country library.
      - Tabs
        
        Excellent. Chapter 1: Top bullying tactic: accuse those you bully of being a bully.
      - SomeGuy
        
        Thanks, B22201. Looks like I have some reading to do over the next few days! Good thing too, because according to Tabs, I won’t have much else going on this weekend.
      - Tabs
        
        I’m sorry for your pain.
      - SomeGuy
        
        I forgive you for this one instance, Tabs. And I hope you’ll be more considerate in the future before subjecting other victims or me to those kinds of hurtful attacks.
      - Jackson
        
        Allegedly, SomeGuy, okay? You know better!
      - Clarendon Skank
        
        SomeGuy showed me a good time.
      - SomeGuy
        
        You and your girlfriend are welcome for a repeat anytime.
      - Clarendon Skank
        
        I thought you knew…”she” wasn’t a girl.
      - SomeGuy
        
        TMI about your choice of designated driver. As long as “she” delivers you to my place and waits patiently in the car like last time, you’re both welcome for a repeat.
    - Clarendon Skank
      
      It’s totally true. Buy me a drink!
HighViewPunk

So all cities in Virginia automatically have a weak nightlife because their bars go into the restaurant category?
Becoming indifferent

Did Arlington County change something while I was sleeping? City?
- TCE
  
  +1 … I always find this anoying when Arlington is on some list for Cities or even towns sometimes.
  - PearDPea
    
    Arlington would be a city anywhere else. It is the smallest county in the country not considered a city and much smaller than almost all cities. I believe there are some advantages to being considered a county under VA law that would prevent this.
    - Westover
      
      And yet Virginia has the most independent cities of any state in the union. By a huge margin. Counties are overrated here.
    - TCE
      
      PearDPea: “Arlington would be a city anywhere else” …
      
      It’s depends what you’re requirements for a ‘city’ are… size? Population? Wyoming is only 568k people while somewhere like Fairfax is 1mil… so maybe Fairfax should be a state and Wyoming just a county… but by law… Arlington is a County… not a recognized City within the state of Virginia. So if someone is making a list of stats about Cities… Arlington should not be on it.
      
      There was another recent list of ‘Best Places to Live’ and Arlington was on that… but the difference was that the list did not limit itself to a jurisdiction type (town, city, county)… it just said ‘Place’.
- YTK
  
  you are still sleeping– this is definitely a dream.
- NoVapologist
  
  Arlington is neither a county nor a city. It is an urban village. And a vibrant one at that.
- drax
  
  Oh, come on, people. Arlington is a city. It’s form of government and legal status is a county, but it’s a city. Stop all this hypertechnical nitpicking.
Tabs

#1 San Francisco–yes, it’s near a lot of cool outdoor stuff, it’s stunning, has great dining etc. But as a commenter on the article’s site noted, there are so many homeless people, AND it’s very expensive, AND California is broke.
- Quoth the Raven
  
  And the weather is horrible!
  - Tabs
    
    hm, I disagree. I don’t like extreme temps (and especially bitter cold winds)
- gmfbcc
  
  It is full of the weirdest people in the US.
  - Quoth the Raven
    
    Have you been to Portland?
- Westover
  
  I can’t think of a single thing about Arlington that is better than San Francisco.
  - Jane-Dallas
    
    Maybe that’s why SF ranks #1.
  - Miss Priss
    
    You can buy a home here for less than a million dollars. That’s a big fat plus!
    
    You can get a cab here.
    
    You can watch football on Sundays in the afternoons like God intended, not over breakfast as on the West Coast.
    
    You can wear shorts in summer instead of freezing to death.
    
    Arlington is much closer to Europe if you like to travel that way.
    
    There are not as many earthquakes in Arlington.
- Suburban Not Urban
  
  And it’s not built in a swamp
  - Opie
    
    No, it’s built on barren sand dunes.
Arlingtron

I suppose you would say it’s dead at night in Arlington if you didn’t go any farther than Rosslyn. Looks lively once you get to Courthouse/Clarendon.
househoor

Week nightlife?? I live 2 blocks from Clarendon Metro and there are people partying everyday of the week.

I went to buy milk at Whole Foods at 8pm on a Thursday and there was a wine event and pub rocking.
- Tabs
  
  Lazy reporting. They obviously didn’t ask the residents of the cities covered. They just relied on statistics and stereotypes.
  - Hattie McDaniel
    
    Lazy is right. The picture they use for Atlanta is actually in Savannah.
    - Clarendon
      
      Savannah actually is a cool city.
      - Hattie McDaniel
        
        But not on the list.
  - Observer
    
    Probably because they wanted it to be an objective ranking and not a popularity contest.
  - drax
    
    And read the comments on Arlnow.
- Likely based on categories of businesses also
  
  As mentioned above with ABC laws (though I agree that I don’t know how 12 categorize themselves as “bars”) we do not have “bars and nightclubs” we have restaurants. All businesses that sell liquor must have a percentage of sales (exact number I can’t remember) be food. SO, if they’re pulling from stats only, it’s likely that we have “weak nightlife” rankings because we don’t have many businesses officially classified as bars and nightclubs. Also, not to be a grammar jerk or anything, but @househoor, “weak” nightlife and “week” nightlife… not the same thing. 🙂 Doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday, Thursday, or Saturday “weak” nightlife applies to all of them. 😉
- NoVapologist
  
  There is more to “nightlife” than a bunch of 20-somethings getting wasted.
  - Mary-Austin
    
    Thank You!
- Brian
  
  Compared to Baltimore, where people like to go out to actual BARS, Arlington is pretty weak (not week). There are so few bars where you can really become a regular and get to know your neighbors. It’s the biggest disappointment I have with living here.
JMB

DC #3? Quality of education, corruption of local government and crime rate must not factor into the best cities algorithm.
- Vinh An Nguyen
  
  Not to mention they say Foggy Bottom is a “lively district”. Yeah, right.
  - drax
    
    It is if you’re a student at GW.
    - Willard Romney
      
      I don’t think so. Even they go to other ‘hoods to party.
- Southeast Ben
  
  Trev cost us 25 spots or else we would be ahead of DC.
internet tourettes

All of these best cities articles are “Link Bait” put together by unpaid college interns.

As to the night life here, it is “weak” although I think bland and formulaic is more descriptive of the entertainment options.
- CW
  
  I agree with this. I wouldn’t call it “weak”. People go pretty hard around here and I doubt the reporter has seen Clarendon Boulevard at 2 AM. But it certainly is boring. Very little in the way of live music, true dance clubs, etc.
  - LastNight
    
    There was live music at Wilson Tavern and Clarendon Grill last night…
    - V. Putin
      
      And Iota.
      - Clarendon
        
        Wish we had more places like IOTA for live music of varied types. Always though the large upstairs over Ethan Allen (extends over the whole building) would be a good place for bands.
      - B22201
        
        I always thought Clarendon Ballroom would be good for bands. . . unfortunately, they have the same people over and over again. (though, I haven’t been there in a couple of years. . . but from past experience it’s a tour of bands that hop from The Ballroom, Whitlows, and Clarendon Grill and rotate bi-weekly.)
        
        I do like Iota. . .
      - Mary-Austin
        
        Clarendon Ballroom/Spider Kelly’s are the very worst of Arlington nightlife.
YTK

“The city could stand to be a bit more fun — it’s held back by weak nightlife,” the magazine said of Arlington. And a County Board that makes people whitewash over CUTE murals.
carlynglen

Ha!!!! Milwaukee beats Arlington 🙂
- Brewer
  
  That shows you right there that the list is bogus.
  - CW
    
    Compare cost of living and then get back to us.
    - Brewer
      
      I’m back with you and I’ll take Arlington’s wages over Milwaukee’s any day.
      - CW
        
        Calculate ratio of average wages. Calculate ratio of average housing prices. Elaborate further.
      - Tabs
        
        I love this cost of living calculator:
        
        http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html
      - CW
        
        Ding, ding, ding we have a winner.
      - Brewer
        
        Well I’m living where I want to be. But if you’d prefer Milwaukee, be my guest.
      - CW
        
        The grass is always greener…I just want Arlington at Milwaukee prices!! 🙂
- B22201
  
  They have Laverne and Shirley. . . Lenny and Squiggy. . . and I’m sure other things going for it.
  - Tabs
    
    Those would be good kitten or puppy names.
  - Ballston Resident
    
    We have Shirlington, why not LaVernington?
    - Tabs
      
      Ha. Sounds like a new Redskin.
      - bum
        
        Nice.
    - B22201
      
      There should be. And a Lennytown, and a Squiggsville Towne Center.
gmfbcc

This list is total garbage for all the reasons pointed out above. But, the only thing I need to see to know it’s complete garbage is that CLEVELAND MADE THE LIST.

AYFKM?
- internet tourettes
  
  Actually the quality of life in Cleveland is pretty good these days. Good Inexpensive housing stock, The lake (which has been cleaned up), some good employers (but not enough though like most of the nation outside the beltway), good night life.
  - SomeGuy
    
    I’m not sure it was unique to Cleveland, but I saw a woman on Youtube yesterday who was boasting about getting free phone service in Cleveland.
  - gmfbcc
    
    If Cleveland is so great, how come they can’t convince any good football or basketball or baseball players to sign there? Even the Nats convinced Jayson Werth when they were horrible. Redskins convince guys every year.
    - Willie Horton
      
      So you’re saying the residence choices of over-paid crybabies are a sure indicator of a city’s desirability?
      - SouthPikeGuy
        
        If that were true Arlington would have finished much higher.
      - DCBuff
        
        It’s worked for Boston and NYC for years, so why not?
- drax
  
  Cleveland is pretty nice. You should rely on reality instead of vague stereotypes from decades ago about a city you’ve never visited.
Mc

Arlington is weak for nightlife. Too many sports bars with big screen TVs, too few venues for live entertainment.
Andrew

Personally, one of the reasons I chose to live in Arlington 15 years ago was because there was little night life. If I want to go out and have a good time, there’s always DC. Arlington is a nice place to be …quiet. It is a suburb after all.
TJLinBallston

I’ve visited nearly all the cities on the list. Every place has it’s charms and pitfalls. By far, beautiful Arlington ranks far, far higher than #27. I live here by choice and objectively place our County in the Top 5.
justin

arlington has some PR department. they’re on every best city list ever compiled. terrible traffic, no arts/music scene, horrid bro-oriented bar scene, poor restaurants, no sense of community and generally rude, unfriendly people…oh, and the most expensive housing of any city. what a GREAT place to live.
- drax
  
  We urge you to leave then. Please.
- been here a while
  
  Traffic is better than the rest of the area. Birthplace of the DC punk scene. Only idiots don’t know how to avoid the bros or find the good restaurants. Great sense of community, if you’re actually part of it and aren’t a jerk whining about it on a website.
  
  Yeah, housing is expensive though.

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