Living: All Riled Up About Ratings

Whether the subject is the beefiest burger or the biggest corporation, Americans have a penchant for making lists of the best and the worst, then arguing about the results. Since 1939, when Psychologist E.L. Thorndike devised a "goodness index" to rate U.S. cities, no rankings have inspired more disagreement than those about home sweet home. The latest edition of Rand McNally's Places Rated Almanac can only add to the controversy. According to the 449-page paperback released last week, the best all-round metropolitan area in which to live in the U.S. is Pittsburgh. The worst: Yuba City, Calif.

Pittsburgh boosters celebrated as if the Steelers had won the Super Bowl. "We've been the best-kept secret in the world," said Mayor Richard Caliguiri, "and now the secret is out." But in the Yuba City area (pop. 109,000), a farming center 40 miles north of Sacramento, residents were mystified. Said Realtor Bill Meagher: "Our quality of living is excellent. Somebody's got their wires crossed."

The choices are far from the only revelations in the $14.95 Almanac, which ) ranks all of the nation's 329 metropolitan areas, where more than 75% of all Americans reside. Since 1981, when the first edition appeared, the fortunes of a number of cities have changed. One reason: this time around Authors Richard Boyer and David Savageau have refined their nine "livability" criteria. Data about climate, housing, health care, crime, transportation, education, culture, recreation and economics are now weighted by such qualities as "fortunate circumstances of geography" and "outdoor recreational assets." Third-ranked Raleigh-Durham, N.C., moved up from ninth place, for instance, partly because it is "a genteel place to live." Atlanta, 1981's top city, fell to eleventh place, hurt by conditions at its zoo. Washington, second in 1981, slipped in rank to 15th, while the metropolitan Greensboro, N.C., area dived from third to 41st.

Boston residents have their own theories on why Bean Town jumped from 18th to second place. Harvard Social Scientist David Riesman (The Lonely Crowd) thinks that media exposure helped. Doug Flutie, the former Boston College quarterback, he notes, "is quick, brainy and made it on countless telecasts." John Updike, who lives in the exclusive suburb of Beverly Farms, cites the economic factor. "When I came to Harvard in the '50s, Boston was fairly grubby," says the novelist. "Now if you have the money, it's a nice place to live."

The almanac's most unexpected result: of the top 20 areas, only four are in the western part of the country. In the 1981 study, cities stood or fell on their own merits. Now the authors give smaller areas credit for the amenities of nearby major cities. Suburban Norwalk, Conn., for example, gained points for New York City's top standing in the arts and health care, but was not penalized for New York's last-place rating in crime. Thus Norwalk went from 148th place to ninth. New York's rank is 25th.