Just Call San Francisco Lucky Town

City tops IBM's 'commuter pain index'

(NEWSER) - Los Angelenos may have fun in the sun, but they suffer the worst commutes, Reuters reports. An IBM survey of 4,446 motorists found that LA commuters ranked their morning drive highest on a "commuter pain index," which measures traffic, stress, anger, and other factors. Though Los Angeles commuters hate their drives the most, New Yorkers actually have the longest commute times, at an average of 38.4 minutes each way. More»

City of Brotherly Love has many of New York's charms—but at a big discount

(NEWSER) - Cheesesteaks aren’t the only things luring young people to the City of Brotherly Love, MSNBC reports. A survey by Apartments.com and Careerbuilder that factors in the cost of apartments, job opportunities, and the number of 20-somethings, puts Philadelphia—$962 for a one-bedroom compared with $1,520 in NYC— atop its list. The rest of the top 10: 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»

If vacation isn't vacation without Rover, consider one of these ten pet-friendly towns or your next trip

(NEWSER) - Man's best friend has become a member of the family, so why shouldn't he get a break, too? Make it fun and easy to travel with your pet by visiting one of these hound-hangout towns MSNBC recommends:

1. San Diego, CA
2. Long Beach, CA
3. Carmel, CA

Read all about it

(NEWSER) - New York may be America's cultural capital, but Seattle and Minneapolis top the list as the nation's most literate cities, reports LiveScience. The rankings are based on newspaper, magazine, and online news readership, library usage, book purchases, and educational levels. The two cities also topped the list last year. More»