For a city like Plano, which is used to being ranked among America’s safest and one of the best areas for young professionals, being ranked 11th in BusinessWeek.com’s “America’s 50 Best Cities” list was par for the course.
The surprise, however, was falling completely off the rankings in 2012.
“If we fell off that list, I definitely think they should reconsider,” said Terrie Bables, who has worked in Plano for years.
Plano-ites will tell you their city has a reputation for excellence.
“I’ve definitely heard of it being one of the most affluent cities, one of the safest,” said Andrew Hazelip, who has lived in Plano much of his young life. “It’s been a great experience growing up here.”
Bables says she’s considering relocating her family to the area, partly because of its standard for public education.
“Plano has the reputation for having really good schools,” she said.
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However, this year’s BusinessWeek.com list left out some of the factors it considered in 2011.
For example, criteria like crime and poverty rates were not measured, nor was public school district performance.
Plano excels in those categories, but falls short of other criteria, like number of bars and restaurants and professional sports teams, all of which played a more prominent factor in placing San Francisco at the top spot.
However, the rankings come with a disclaimer that a city’s rise or fall does not mean “it’s gotten better or worse”.
“It’s a list – whoever made that list probably doesn’t live here, doesn’t know a whole lot about Plano,” Bables said.
“It’s still home – no matter how it’s ranked,” Hazelip agreed.
Irving also fell off of the rankings list between 2011 and 2012.