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Best Small City
MONEY MAGAZINE - BEST
SMALL CITY IN AMERICA
Sarasota, FL -
Sun, sand, and shore
There
are 35 miles of pristine white sand beaches just minutes away from Rose and
Richard Elliott's three-bedroom home in Sarasota, Fla. But you'd never know
it by talking to them. "Of course, there are beaches," says Elliott, 52.
"But we hardly ever go to them. There's just so much else to do down here."
Sarasota may be the
ultimate beach town, with its sun-kissed location on the Gulf of Mexico,
more than 200 sunny days a year and an average year-round temperature of
71°F. Yet there are plenty of other reasons why we named it the best small
city. The county -- which includes Venice,
St Armands Key, Longboat Key, and Siesta Keys -- prides itself on its
cultural offerings. There's the symphony, ballet, opera companies, and film
society. The 1,800-seat Van Wezel Performing Arts Center lures productions
like the Broadway road company of
Chicago.
The Ringling Museum of Art -- established by circus baron John Ringling, who
settled in the area in the 1920s -- has an extensive collection of American
and European art and there are dozens of galleries -- an extraordinary
amount of culture for such a small town. Selby Gardens on the Bay Front is
exceptional and Mote Marine Aquarium has a national reputation. Like sports?
Just an hour away there's the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers and arena football's
Storm.
Sarasota also
offers a triple treat: The lifestyle is very affordable. The median home
price is a mere $126,000. Says Tracey Seider, an agent with Re/Max Realty:
"This is the kind of place where you can get an incredible, brand-new home
for $200,000." The schools are outstanding, and the job market is brisk.
Sarasota County's public school students in key grades outscored 95% of
their peers in the state. And perhaps most of all, the city posted job
growth of 5 percent in the past year, ranking it among the top 25 metro
areas in the country. During the next decade, it's expected to see a 30.5
percent increase in jobs, putting it at No. 7 in the U.S. Many of those jobs
are in the retail and service sectors -- Sarasota is a thriving tourist
destination -- but they are also in other industries.
For people who want
to work and live in a small community, it offers plenty of advantages. You
can go home to have lunch with your kids.
It's so desirable that communications executive Nicholas Branica commutes
to his job in Charlottesville, Va. rather than uproot his wife Tonie and his
two daughters, Christina, 11, and Nichole, 8. Branica settled in a
six-bedroom beach house in Siesta Key when he took over Sarasota-based Key
Voice Technologies, a telecommunications firm. When Branca became CEO of
another telecom firm, Charlottesville-based Comdial, he never thought of
leaving Sarasota. "We can jump in our boat and drive around the keys to fish
or watch dolphins; we can watch manatees at the beach," says Branica, 47.
“We Love it here”
“Sarasota” is Ranked #3
Top 25 cities
For Doing Business in America
MARCH 2004
INC. MAGAZINE
Medium Metro Areas
Have job bases from 150,000 to 450,000
#1. GREEN BAY
The Packers may provide name recognition to this
Wisconsin city, but locals swear to the quality of life, a diversified
economy, and a hardworking, skilled labor force. It lacks the
population-driven growth of Sunbelt cities such as Las Vegas or Atlanta, but
it is an excellent place to start and expand a business.
#2. MADISON
Cold weather didn’t stop Wisconsin from packing a
one-two punch among midsize cities. Madison is peculiarly well suited for
the service driven economic expansion. As state capital and locale of one of
the region’s top universities, its population is exceptionally well
educated.
#3. SARASOTA This
may well be Florida’s “next big thing,” an affordable coastal region that
attracts many skilled, middle-class emigrants from the north. A sizable tech
work force has made this among the fastest-growing areas for
information-based industries. And there’s always the beach.
#4. FRESNO
California’s economy is driven by real estate
affordability and
population growth, but here it’s particularly
spurred on by Latino and Asian
immigration. A key issue, as in other growth
centers, will be creating a bigger
high-end service, manufacturing, and information
sector.
#5. BAKERSFIELD
Like Fresno, but with perhaps stronger prospects.
Sprawl has made the old Merle Haggard Okie capital a distant suburb of
pricey Los Angeles, and people actually commute over the mountains. A good
choice for firms seeking to expand close to southern California, without the
price tag.
Sarasota, No. 3 on the medium cities list, has
become rich with what Reuben Ben-Aire, CEO of MadahCom, calls “early
retirees. ”Many people in their 50s came to Florida to retire but, for
financial reasons or out of boredom, have reentered the work force. “These
people have everything you want including experience,” says the 60-year-old
entrepreneur, who moved his firm from New York City in July 2002 and has
since gone from four to 30 employees. “They like being here and they know it
costs less. Every dollar they make here is simply worth more.”
Population: 52,860
Nearest big city: Tampa (43 mi.)
Sunny days a year: 238
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