Four St. Louis area cities received recognition this week by Money magazine in its annual list of the "100 Best Places to Live in the Nation". Money identifies St. Peters, St. Charles and O'Fallon, Mo. among the "100 Best Places" with populations between 50,000 and 300,000. St. Peters placed at #60, O'Fallon at #68, and St. Charles was ranked #82 in the magazine's listing. Arnold, Mo. ranked #13 among the "25 Most Affordable Communities" with fewer than 50,000 residents.
Money spotlighted the Rec-Plex as a St. Peters attraction and the city's low cost of living. The report also notes that Arnold has some 400 acres of parks, 3 public swimming pools, a fishing lake and a new Jefferson College campus. The Money ranking was based on several criteria, a sampling of which includes: overall job growth, income increases, cost of living and housing, quality of schools, overall safety, and availability of activities.
Speaking of rankings --- The U.S. Commerce Department released new data on Monday showing the St. Louis region continues to grow as an active metropolitan export market. The Commerce Department noted that the St. Louis metro area had $4.9 billion in global marketplace sales, with 34% of St. Louis' merchandise going to countries that signed the North America Free Trade Agreement. Chemicals were the top St. Louis export for the 1st half of 2007, accounting for $954 million of exported goods. Other top exports were transportation equipment, crop production, and machinery.
The Top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas posted total export sales of $207 billion. These exports accounted for 37% of total U.S. exports over this period. The Top 10 markets are: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; Detroit-Warren-Livonia; Chicago-Naperville-Joliet; San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach; Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; and Boston-Cambridge-Quincy. |
