It was the city of Costa Mesa that alerted me to the fact that it had been named one of the top 100 places to live in the United States, but it was not until checking the list that I discovered the former Greater Goat Hill wound up at No. 99.
That put Costa Mesa behind Anaheim (28), Irvine (36), Fullerton (48), Santa Ana (93) and Orange (94) on Livability.com's national rankings.
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At least Costa Mesa, if not the Dodgers, can say they beat St. Louis, which finished at No. 100.
Palo Alto was No. 1.
The Orange County cities that made the list shared many of the same point-scoring attributes, including “Mostly Younger,” “Mostly Singles,” “Mild Summer,” “Green City,” “Close to Major Airport,” “Nearby College/University” and “Close to Major Sports Team.”
Anahiem, Irvine and Santa Ana each got credit for being a “Bigger City,” which the others scored nods for each being a “Smaller City.”
All but Costa Mesa was cited for being “Mostly Homeowners”; Costa Mesa was the only in OC to be noted for “Mostly Renters.”
Anaheim, Fullerton, Santa Ana and Orange were singled out for having “Lots of Families,” with Santa Ana also getting credit for being a “Diverse City.” The same could be said for Irvine, although it instead got a nod for being a “Growing City.”
Despite such heavy (heady?) competition in O to the C, Costa Mesa city leaders expressed pride in making the top 100.
“We are honored but not surprised to make the list,” Mayor Jim Righeimer says in a release. “Those of us who call Costa Mesa our home already know that it's one of the finest places to live in America. It's good to see others recognizing what we experience each day.”
See the full list here: http://livability.com/top-100-best-places-to-live#/palo-alto/ca.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.