Expansion Management Magazine, a publication that helps companies of 50-500 employees make decisions on the best location to hang their shingle, has ranked the Morgantown metropolitan statistical area among the topquality of lifeurban areas in the nation.
A total of 362 metropolitan statistical areasone or more counties with an urban population of at least 50,000were compared using nearly 50 statistical criteria. Among the categories considered were crime, public schools, standard of living, adult education levels, and traffic and commute.
Morgantown was the only West Virginia metro area to earn the covetedfive-stardistinction, placing it among the top 72 MSAs in the nation. The local MSA ranked well in the categories of affordable housing, low crime, adult education level and spouse employment, but lower in standard of living, traffic and commute and air access.
True quality of life is about employees being able to afford to tap into the American Dream,said Bill King, editor of Expansion Management, a monthly magazine for executives of companies that are actively looking for the best location to expand or relocate their facilities within the next one to three years.
Its about being able to afford to own a home, to be able to send your children to good schools, to feel safe from crime, to live in a place with a reasonable cost of living,he added.This study simply shows you a way to quantify what most people still consider a highly subjective area.
Officials with the city of Morgantown and economists at West Virginia University said the ranking supports what they have been saying about growth in the area.
This honor further validates the positive environment for growth within the Morgantown metro area,said Tom Witt, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research in WVU s College of Business and Economics.
Our economic forecasts show continued growth locally through 2009 at rates above the national and West Virginia growth rates,Witt added.
Morgantown Mayor Ron Justice said the ranking isanother example of how our quality of life in Morgantown is making national news and will further economic development in the area.
The Expansion Management Magazine report can be found athttp://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16394&st=5.