Irvine, California: Response to Money Magazine List of Best Places to Live in the U.S.

I just heard on the news that Money Magazine recently published its list of the 100 best places to live in America. I'm not sure exactly what criteria they used or how they attributed these rankings to the cities, but the city of Irvine, California was ranked at number 4 on their list. And it's no surprise to me...I lived there for 5 years and if it wasn't for the insane commute to my job, I would still be there.

One of the things I really love about Irvine are the parks. This city has got to have the highest park acreage per capita I've ever seen in a city. You can drive down a fairly short stretch of road and pass by several parks on your way. And they're nice parks too...not the type that you would be afraid to walk through by yourself because of all the drug dealers or gangs of delinquents "hanging out." (I've lived around parks like that too).

If you like to play sports, the city of Irvine has so many facilities that it's usually impossible not to find an available basketball or tennis court to play on. Sure you'll have to wait if you want to play at the newest, most popular facility. But if you are willing to play on the "older" courts (which are probably only a few years old) you will almost always find availability.

I used to live in a part of the city called Woodbridge, where there was a Homeowners Association. The Homeowners Association fee was about $70 per month. For this amount, I got access to several swimming pools, hot tubs, tennis courts, basketball courts, parks, and even a lake with a beachside lagoon!

For those with families, the Irvine schools are nationally recognized as being top notch, with stellar test scores and innovative curriculums. The city really is a great place to raise kids.

And I could go on...and on...with accolades.

But what about the drawbacks? Are there any? Well, sure. There are a few. For one thing, housing is incredibly expensive there. For example, a typical 2,000 square foot 3 bedroom, 2 bath house would probably cost about $600K to $700K. That is about 3 times the national average of $210K. But the bright side of this is that the home prices in Irvine have not been as hard hit in the housing downturn as other areas of the country either. The home values in Irvine have held up fairly well.

Another pet peeve of mine while I was living there was that there aren't too many small mom and pop shop style restaurants. Yes there are a few (as if the city just wants to be able to say there are some). But for the most part, the restaurants are all of the big chain names, which in my opinion lack the charm and sometimes even the quality of food at the smaller independent establishments.

But there's no doubt that the pros outweigh the cons on this one. The city of Irvine is definitely the place to be!