Gimme

As recently noted, Rochester's performance in U.S. News & World Report's inaugural Best Places to Live ranking was rather mediocre.  The ranking studied America's 100 most populated metro areas and took into account five indexes, namely job market, value, quality of life, net migration, and desirability.  Rochester's average showing was driven largely by a suboptimal net migration index and a less than stellar desirability index.  The region's grade in the other three categories was, not surprisingly, very solid.  As an example, here are the 20 best metro areas in terms of quality of life (as measured by crime, health care, education, well-being, and commute times):

1. McAllen, TX
2. San Jose, CA
3. Sarasota, FL
4. Boise, ID
5. Fayetteville, AR
6. Raleigh-Durham, NC
7. Grand Rapids, MI
8. Melbourne, FL
9. El Paso, TX
10. San Diego, CA
11. Austin, TX
12. Portland, ME
13. Madison, WI
14. Hartford, CT
15. Santa Rosa, CA
16. Salt Lake City, UT
17. Syracuse, NY
18. Los Angeles, CA
19. Rochester, NY
20. Albany, NY