Evansville, IN wins in Kiplinger's readers' choice poll of favorite places to live, work and play
By Cameron Huddleston, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger.com
August 2008
Population (metro area): 350,172
Population Growth Since 2000: 2%
Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 23.2
Cost of Living Index: 96 (100 being the national average)
Median Household Income: $43,109
Income growth since 2000: 13.6%
A low crime rate, affordable homes, good schools, hardly any traffic and plenty to do. Who wouldn't want to live in a city that offered all this? Perhaps that's why Kiplinger.com readers picked Evansville, Ind., as their favorite city, with almost twice as many votes as runner-up Green Bay, Wis. (See how many votes it got.)
On the banks of the Ohio River in southwestern Indiana, Evansville has plenty of amenities you'd find in a bigger town. For example, the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science houses a $10 million permanent art collection. The Centre, a 2,500-seat auditorium, brings in Broadway touring acts. And the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra performs with such renowned musicians as Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell.
There is a lot of outdoor recreation nearby: Paoli Peaks ski resort, state and national parks, lakes and, of course, the river. "I don't have to take a vacation to have a good time," says resident and native Mike Zimmer.
Although not as low as any of the other Best Cities selected by Kiplinger's Personal Finance, the cost of living in Evansville is below the national average, and the median home price of $109,682 is about $100,000 less than the national median price for metro areas.
A new, four-bedroom home goes for around $150,000. The real deals, though, are on brick-paved First Street in the historic district downtown, where you can find beautiful 4,000-square-foot homes in good condition for less than $300,000.
Like many of Kiplinger's Best City picks, Evansville is witnessing redevelopment of its downtown. The city saw a steady decline in population since the 50s as people moved to the suburbs, says Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. But revitalization efforts in downtown neighborhoods reversed that trend in 2007, when the city's population actually increased.
As testament to the city's downtown redevelopment efforts, loft apartments now are filling once-vacant buildings. Two corporations, Berry Plastics and American General Finance (a division of AIG), are building their headquarters downtown. Casino Aztar, the city's biggest tourist attraction, built a $40 million entertainment district that includes a boutique hotel and hip lounge. And individuals and corporations chipped in more than $4 million to help build the Koch Family Children's Museum of Evansville in the former Central Library downtown.
A pedestrian and bicycle trail now runs the length of downtown along the river. The city installed this first 4.2-mile section of Pigeon Creak Greenway in 2007. When completed, the trail will be 42 miles, encircling the city.
The single best thing that has happened to Evansville, though, was the opening of a Toyota plant in 1996 in nearby Princeton, says Zimmer, who is an economics professor at University of Evansville. With about 4,600 employees, it's the area's biggest employer. Toyota also has provided a stabilizing influence in a city that had a history of union troubles, Zimmer says.
Although manufacturing still dominates the area, Evansville is becoming a mini financial center and a regional health-care hub. And the city's two universities, University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana, provide an educated workforce.
Evansville Courier & Press staff report
Originally published 08:47 a.m., August 15, 2008
Evansville trounced the competition in Kiplinger’s magazine's online vote list of the 10 "Best Cities" to live in the United States.
Kiplinger's July edition published its list of 10 best cities. The magazine then invited readers to vote at kiplinger.com for their favorite.
Evansville got more than 2,200 votes. Second-place Green Bay, Wis., had 1,300 votes. As a result, Evansville is being highlighted today in a profile on Kiplinger.com.
Evansville also landed on the magazine’s "50 Smartest Places to Live" list in 2006. To compile that list, Kiplinger’s asked its readers what was most important to them when choosing a place to live.
Among the most popular reasons were affordable housing, cost of living, quality of life, education, quality health care, transportation and cultural amenities. Kiplinger’s cited Evansville’s attractiveness to families as one of the biggest reasons it made the list.
