Seattle: Best Place to Live

What makes Seattle one of the top places to live in the country?

In metro Seattle, job growth is heating up, and that drives buyers to purchase. The city’s jobless rate fell to 5.9 percent, the first time since November 2008 that local unemployment has come in below 6 percent. The state unemployment rate held at 7.5 percent for the third straight month, according to the state Employment Security Department. It was 8.3 percent a year earlier. Both the state and the metro area are faring better than the nation as a whole: The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.7 percent last month.

Investment News recently published a list of their "12 Best Places to Live in the U.S.," and Seattle came in at the number-two spot behind only San Francisco. The factors that Investment News considered were Seattle's high average median income, standout clean air, and the presence of corporate giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing.

Australian innovation agency 2ThinkNow released their global index of the most innovative cities, where Seattle ranked tenth behind London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam. Our city also ranked fourth in the nation. New York and Boston tied for first place globally and nationally. The index compiles the cities based upon three ranking factors: cultural assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets.