Knoxville & Huntsville ranked by Expansion Management Magazine

Yesterday, the Parties posted a couple of press releases regarding Knoxville TN MSA being ranked 3d among cities 200K to 1MM. by Expansion Management Magazine. Today, a look at the complete list shows that Huntsville AL MSA is ranked 5th. Details are filtering out through the media with comments from area officials. A complete list of the Top 20 in PDF format is here.

The online version of the complete article is here. It includes a quote from Knoxville Mayor, Bill Haslem: “Business growth is important to us because it grows the tax base that helps us make Knoxville an even better place to live, and it creates good jobs for our citizens. It reflects the progress we’ve seen in making Knoxville a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

The overall ranking came from several components. Here is how area cities fared: (You can click the title to link the complete list.)

5-Star Business Opportunity Metros (i.e., MSAs)
11. Knoxville, TN
15. Huntsville, AL
18. Nashville, TN
25. Birmingham, AL
38. Atlanta, GA

Education Quotient (by School District; Best to worst: Gold, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red)
Alabama
Birmingham City - Red
Calhoun County (Anniston) - Yellow
Hoover City - Gold
Huntsville City School District - Blue
Jefferson County (Birmingham) - Green

Georgia
Atlanta City - Yellow
Fulton County - Green
Cherokee County (Canton) - Green
Whitfield County (Dalton) - Yellow
Dekalb County (Decatur) - Red
Gwinnet County (Lawrenceville) - Green
Cobb County (Marietta) - Green

Tennessee
Hamilton County (Chattanooga) - Green
Bradley County (Cleveland) - Yellow
Johnson City - Green
Knox County (Knoxville) - Green
Rutherford County (Murfreesboro) - Green
Nashville-Davidson County - Yellow
Oak Ridge - Gold
Sevier County - Green

Knowledge Worker Quotient
Top Metros for Scientists and Engineers
4. Huntsville, AL

Top Metros for University R&D Spending
9. Atlanta, GA

5-Star Knowledge Worker Metros (from the region, in alpha order)
Atlanta, GA
Huntsville, AL
Knoxville, TN
Nashville, TN

Logistics Quotient
4-Star Logistics Metros (from region, in alpha order)
Huntsville, AL

5-Star Logistics Metros (from region, in alpha order)
Atlanta, GA
Birmingham, AL
Chattanooga, TN
Nashville, TN

Legislative Quotient
4. Tennessee
9. Georgia
19. Alabama

Health-care Cost Quotient
Alabama - 5 Star
Georgia - 1 Star
Tennessee - 4 Star

Quality of Living
5-Star Quality of Life Metros
Huntsville, AL

4-Star Quality of Life Metros
Birmingham, AL
Johnson City, TN
Knoxville, TN

Affordable Housing
-Overall
8. Decatur, AL
- MSA Population Over 1MM
6. Birmingham, AL

Standard of Living
-Overall
5. Huntsville, AL
6. Nashville, TN
8. Birmingham, AL
- MSA Population Over 1MM
2. Nashville, TN
4. Birmingham, AL
9. Atlanta, GA

Continuing Education Opportunities
10. Atlanta, GA

No regional placement in top 10 for the following even within size categories where offered:
Good Public Schools
Low Crime Rate
Adult Education
Traffic & Commuting
Commercial Air Access
Labor Markets

You can see the KnoxNews Blog about it here, complete with accolades and aspersions. Accolades come from folks with screen names like "Robert Cathey". Aspersions come from folks who use screen names like "truthseeker" that allow them to hide their true identity and who clearly did not take any time to look at the comprehensive nature of the ranking system. The Parties don't really understand pock shot criticism of the success of others, especially then the success benefits the critic. Further, the Parties dislike pock shot criticism from folks who hide behind pseudonyms. Perhaps the Parties should learn to ignore criticism from folks who are too ignorant to see the irony of hiding their true identity behind pseudonyms like "truthseeker".