Best Place to Live? Charlotte

Sin City might want to rename itself Not-So-Bright City

(NEWSER) - Sure, we usually take into account jobs, culture, climate, affordability, and a host of other data when moving to another place, but do you really want to be surrounded by a city full of blithering idiots? The Daily Beast crunches the numbers and comes up with the smartest cities in America: More»

Daily Beast ranks America's pot-loving locales

(NEWSER) - In honor of today's date, 4/20—and the pot-steeped lore of those numbers—the Daily Beast has ranked the nation's 40 "highest cities," where weed culture reigns supreme. To read the full list and see how it was compiled, click here . The top 10:

1. Eureka, California
2. Tallahassee, Florida
3. Manhattan
4. Boston
5. San Francisco

High-ranking literate cities safer, better for singles

(NEWSER) - The most literate cities tend to be safer, healthier, and have thriving singles' scenes, according to Central Connecticut State University's annual ranking of American cities. Seattle topped the list again this year, which was cross-indexed with statistics and other surveys for the first time. Washington, DC, came in second, knocking Minneapolis into third place, USA Today reports. More»

(NEWSER) - When urban planners dream, they dream that Americans will give up on the suburbs in favor of a dense, environmentally friendly, less auto-dependent lifestyle. And it’s never going to happen, David Brooks writes in the New York Times. “Amsterdam is a wonderful city, but Americans never seem to want to live there.” According to a recent Pew study, cities are among the least popular places to live for Americans, who still yearn to sprawl outward. More»

(NEWSER) - Despite tough economic times, an analysis of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas offers hope for those looking to launch a small business. Portfolio and BizJournals list the cities that are most conducive:

1. Raleigh, NC: The only market to rank among the top 10 in many key categories—growth, population, employment—and offer almost 30,000 small businesses for a million residents.
2. Charlotte, NC: A key banking hub, the city has some big problems, but its small business sector appears “remarkably resilient."