Charlottesville (CharlAlbemarle or the Charlottesville MSA) is now ranked as the 12th best in the “Small Metro Areas” category in the  2006’s Best Cities for Relocating Familiesâ„¢ study. This may be an important “study” in that it appears to be targeted towards businesses relocating their employees. From the people behind the Best Places rankings and two relocation companies.

“A number of measurable features can affect the ease with which a family can move to a city and the ease of settling into a new life there,” according to the announcement. “Traditional factors such as commute times, tax rates and average home cost and appreciation are combined with more diverse cost of living and quality of life variables — like the ability to qualify for in-state tuition, the service quality of local utilities, auto taxes, and per-capita volunteerism.”

Frequently I work with people who move to the area “because of all the great press about Charlottesville.” This study, marketing to the companies who will be moving their employees, may very well help bring better jobs and people to the area. Never having been to Fargo, ND and my only real “knowledge” about the place being the eponymous movie, I can only wonder why they are ranked two spots higher than CharlAlbemarle.

I would love to see more of the actual data in addition to the final rankings. A hat tip to Inman (subscription required). The press release is here (pdf).

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