City Rankings Are Always Wrong

     Have you ever been watching the news and hear talk of "the friendliest cities" or "the safest cities" and try to see where your city landed on the list? I remember watching those pop up on the news every now and then. And I remember thinking, "how do they pinpoint these statistics, exactly?" Well, the thing is, they aren't accurate. In fact, the statistics they use to make these lists don't make much sense either. According to this article, the "saddest U.S. cities" are based on suicidal rates, amount of antidepressants used, rate of unemployment, and other similar statistics. But the thing is, everybody is different. There is no one way to make these lists based on stats that are different from person to person. If someone wanted to go somewhere based on these lists, they really shouldn't believe them. Use individual statistics that are important to you, not "best places to raise a family". Because it is most likely not what you think it is.
     I really like how the author starts off his article with a conversational approach. "Hey, Memphis: Are you happy? Are you sure? Because Men’s Health magazine isn’t so certain." (Doig) catches the readers' attention. The conversational tone makes the article seem like it doesn't require much repertoire to read. He makes several good points while writing this article, and uses facts and examples to back up his argument. Clearly, he was against these lists of top U.S. cities, because he definitely swayed my opinion. Now, I can tell my mom she shouldn't be too sure when she tells me as well as many other people what the "top partying colleges in the U.S." are.


Article: "Why city rankings always get it wrong" by Will Doig