Raleigh Ranked America's Best City

After months of working with data, Businessweek.com named Raleigh as the No. 1 Best City in America. Businessweek.com evaluated 100 of the country’s largest cities based on 16 criteria including: the number of restaurants, museums, colleges, libraries, professional sports teams, income, poverty level, crime, foreclosure rates, and green space.

The city sports a high number of restaurants and cultural institutions as well as a thriving social scene, great parks, and good schools. This high quality of life combined with new and expanding business in the region has attracted more residents to Raleigh, one of the fastest growing U.S. cities: the population in the metro area expanded by an estimated 12.2 percent from 2009 to 2010.

“It’s a combination of things: there’s a great university system here so it’s easy to find qualified talent and it’s a great place to hire people. The relative cost of living is low, the cost of real estate is dramatically lower [than other cities], and the state is pro business,” says Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst.

For a full listing of Raleigh and Wake County's accolades click here.