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How does your city rank?
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February 9, 1999: 10:06 a.m. ET
Polls and studies rate communities on wealth, crime and many other factors
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A new survey says that Ann Arbor, Mich., is the best place in the United States to earn and save money -- while Fort Wayne, Ind. is the best place to retire.
Another study shows that Santa Fe, NM, has the best restaurants per capita, while Atlanta is tops for jobs.
Everything you ever wanted to know about a place is at your fingertips in a variety of almanacs, polls and surveys that analyze raw financial data.
"This is a report card on the relative progress of cities on the financial security of their populations," said Rick Naymark, a vice president at ReliaStar Financial Corp., which released one of the studies in January.
Statistical help
What's the benefit of a poll? Obviously you shouldn't pack your bags if your city ranks at the bottom for social services, for example. But the data can help you make decisions if you have to move or if you own a business, according to financial advisers.
"I don't think (a survey) hurts, but I think it's important not to look at one single factor," said Lou Stanasolovich, a certified financial planner and president of Legend Financial Advisors in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Consider some of the recent analyses:
 The survey by ReliaStar (RLR), a financial-services holding company based in Minneapolis, evaluated the top 125 U.S. cities to earn and save money.
 David Savageau's Places Rated Almanac ranks 354 metro areas in the United States and Canada based on cost of living, crime, recreation, the arts, education, climate, transportation, jobs and healthcare.
 Gallup Polls has surveyed some individual cities, while Money magazine and Fortune magazine publish annual reports on the best places to live and the best cities for business. (Time Warner is the parent company of Money, Fortune, CNN and CNNfn).
"The average reader might only know where 30 cities are," said Savageau, a writer based in Gloucester, Mass. "If people are moving, they'd want to know information about a city on crime, education and so on."
Best? Worst? Most?
Perhaps one of the only problems you'll have is wading through so much information.
The surveys evaluate hundreds of statistics on a community, and each one may come up with different conclusions, financial experts said. So you may find your city at the top of one list and at the bottom of another, for example.
The ReliaStar study found more wealth, higher education, lower cost-of-living and better financial "safety nets" in cities at the top of the list.
The survey examined 15 measures of financial security, including household income, wealth, crime and unemployment figures.
"The most important single thing a person can do to improve their financial security is to improve their savings rate," Naymark said.
Naymark said some people might be surprised that the top 20 cities on the list are mostly in the Northeast, Midwest and along the eastern seaboard, while 12 of the bottom 20 cities are on the west coast.
For retirees, the study looked at three factors important to senior citizens -- low cost of living, low taxes, and low crime. That's why the best cities are in Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, while Miami, despite its reputation as a retirement haven, ranks No. 120.
In Savageau's "Places Rated Almanac," people can compare different cities based on taxes, housing costs, job growth, murder rates as well as what types of recreational facilities are available.
Savageau said the top rankings take into account many variables, and if you're only concerned with climate or cost-of-living, you might come up with a different No. 1.
"The people who mainly use this book are mobile -- they're new graduates, or people considering a transfer or job offer, or people looking to retire," Savageau said. "It can help if you're befuddled, or if you're wondering if there's a nice place to live."
While people seem to be most interested in cost-of-living and climate, jobs are also a big selling point. Top cities for job growth are Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.
Savageau's almanac was released in 1997, and he's working a revised version for release at the end of the year.
A word of warning
But don't take the polls and surveys as gospel, experts said. Savageau pointed out that people can cull a lot of research about a place on their own by jumping onto the Internet.
"These books are not the final say on which places are livable and which places aren't," Savageau said. "If you have a specific place in mind you can research it yourself."
Stanasolovich said he always warns people to rent first before buying a home when they're retiring in a new city. They might hear or read that it's a great place to spend your golden years, but they won't know if it's right for them until they're actually living there.
"There aren't any universals," Stanasolovich said. "You need to look at your proximity to your relatives, your health…I tell clients it's unique to their own situation."
Likewise, there are always exceptions to the conclusions in the studies, said Lewis Altfest, president of L.J. Altfest & Co. in New York.
For example, the ReliaStar study showed New York City to be one of the worst places to earn and save money. But Altfest has a client, a 55-year-old woman, who convinced him she could survive in New York City on $12,000 after retirement.
Altfest had his doubts, but she's proved her point. She spends her days going to free cultural events and eats in low-cost restaurants.
"If New York is being ranked at the bottom, it's way incorrect," Altfest said. "You can live and eat cheaply in New York, but you have to have that kind of disposition. I wouldn't throw out the rankings, but I wouldn't just follow them in a knee-jerk way." 
-- by staff writer Martine Costello
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