Fishers named the Nation’s Tenth Best Place to Live

The Town of Fishers was named the tenth best place to live in the nation by Money Magazine in its Best Places to Live issue released today. The magazine cited Fishers’ strong economy, home prices, and good schools as factors placing it in the top ten. Fishers is the only Indiana community named in the list of 100 municipalities.

“To be recognized nationally is an honor, but to receive this unsolicited recognition for the third time by Money Magazine is remarkable.” said Scott Faultless, Fishers Town Council President. “Many individuals have contributed significant time and effort to build a world-class community comprised of top notch schools, accredited police and fire protection, beautiful parks and trails, commercial hubs, and community oriented businesses. Our residents, who played the biggest role in receiving this recognition, should be proud of this acknowledgement.”

Fishers is one of eight communities in the nation to be named in the last three Best Places to Live lists for communities with populations over 40,000. Fishers was ranked as 24th in 2005 and 33rd in 2006. In 2007, Fishers was exempt from consideration because the magazine focused only on communities with populations under 40,000 people.

“Among the long list of community strengths is a vibrant, progressive economic environment, creating business and job opportunities for our residents. An educated workforce, good interstate access, demographics, steady growth and outstanding quality of life factors contribute to a strong business sector. Any one of these factors by itself is a positive asset, but not necessarily a differentiation from other places,” states Christi Wolf, President of the Fishers Chamber of Commerce, “Putting it all together creates the Fishes factor – where good business and quality of life mix.”

Money Magazine states of Fishers, “When it comes to smart planning and sheer livability, others places could learn a lot from this little city in the Midwest.”

“Hamilton Southeastern Schools can attribute a great deal of its successes, including state and national recognition, to the high expectations of its community. The district’s staff and students also enjoy an amazing degree of parental participation in school and school-related activities,” said Jeff Sturgis, Hamilton Southeastern School Board President. “With this support and encouragement, the schools continue to strive to provide all students with opportunities to excel in academics as well as areas such as music, arts, leadership, athletics, technology and special interests in and outside of class.

Money Magazine started with all municipalities in the country with populations between 50,000 to 300,000. Then, it excluded retirement communities and places where income is less than 85% or more than 201% of the state median, and those that were 95% white. The list was further refined by eliminating cities with high crime, big population declines, significant unemployment or job shrinkage, and long commutes.

The municipalities that remained were then ranked on job growth, income increases, cost of living, housing affordability, school quality, arts and leisure options, safety, medical care, diversity, and ease-of-living criteria. Then, data on the economy, jobs, housing process, schools and taxes were factored in. The magazine then visited communities and interviewed residents to assess intangibles like sense of community.

This announcement follows the July 2008 edition of Forbes Magazine naming Hamilton County as the best county in the country to raise a family.

“Receiving two national recognitions in two weeks by separate and respected publications using objective criteria confirms what our citizens and businesses already know – Fishers is a great place to live and work,”‘ Scott Faultless added.

Read the Money Magazine article.