Santa Rosa is fourth best place to live in California, new report says

Live in Santa Rosa? Lucky you. According to U.S. News & World Report’s inaugural list of the 100 best places to live in America, you could do worse. Of the 10 California cities that made the list, Santa Rosa comes in fourth behind San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego.

Out of the entire 100, Santa Rosa comes in at No. 62.

Cities were ranked using data from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI and the Department of Labor. That data then were given scores, and weighted based on answers from a survey that asked Americans to vote for what they thought was the most important thing to consider when moving to a new town. Some of those factors included quality of life, job market, desirability and value.

Bob Hunnicut, a native Michigander, moved to town to attend Sonoma State University back in 1980 when he was 29, and he liked it so much, he never left.

“At the time, of course, it was a lot smaller,” he said, laughing.

In response to a Press Democrat Facebook post about why people love Santa Rosa, he wrote: “(It’s) small enough so you can get out of town quickly. Large enough to have an endless supply of restaurants, plus wineries and breweries nearby. Hey, Russian River Brewing is a national treasure! It’s never too hot overnight. Never too humid. Lots of parks nearby. SRJC. Harvest Fair. County Fair horse races.”

Another Facebook commenter, Stephen Cann, said he grew up in Santa Rosa, but has since moved to New Jersey.

He wrote: “Being anywhere else just makes me appreciate NorCal more. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere in the U.S. where the people in general were nicer than Sonoma County. It’s an hour from the coast, an hour from the city, and two hours from the mountains. S.R. is perfect.”

Raissa de la Rosa, the city’s economic development specialist, is actually originally from Madison, Wis., - No. 24 on the list - but spent most of her adult life in the Bay Area. She, like many others, was drawn to the quality of life Santa Rosans have.

It’s one of the main things people are looking for when they consider a move to Santa Rosa, she said.

“You get a CEO who’s looking for a specific quality of life, and so (because of that), we’ve seen a lot of people - small companies - relocate here,” she said. “Lots of times, they’re Web-based.”

She said one thing that might deter companies looking to move here is the lack of “alternative office spaces.” She said that fewer and fewer people are interested in classic business-park-type office settings, and that people are instead looking for more open floor plans, and locations downtown, where they’re situated in a very walkable environment, which is something she tries to push developers to consider when planning.

Santa Rosa was given an overall score of 6.4 out of 10. Denver, which ranked first, received a 7.8. Santa Rosa scored highly in desirability, job market and quality of life, but didn’t do so well in the value category, where the city scored 4.7 out of 10. That calculation was arrived at after comparing the median annual income to the cost of living here. No big shock that that was our greatest downfall.

The report notes Santa Rosa’s natural beauty, wineries and public art as major draws to the area.

“There are murals, paintings and sculptures everywhere, thanks to art lovers and artists who exhibit works privately and through the city’s Art in Public Places program,” an article about the city says.

The story also references residents’ interest in growing their own produce both at home and in community gardens. It does, however, fail to note Santa Rosa’s charming hometown paper. But, we’ll let that one slide.

To see the full list, go to realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings-best-?places-to-live.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.