Sources for Ranking U.S. Cities and States and World cities and Countries

Physical, social, and economic Quality of Life indicators - arranged in descending chronological order by publication date.

Also use the Web Search Tools to look for city ranking web sites, such as Fortune's Best Cities Chart [in PDF or Excel formats]

U.S. Cities

• STATE AND METROPOLITAN AREA DATA BOOK. 1997/98. The Census Bureau has recently released the fifth edition of the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, which compares the nation's states and metropolitan areas in everything from banking and births to wages and welfare. Users can view a number of state and metro rankings tables in HTML or download the entire publication in .pdf format. The Data Book also serves as a guide to sources of data from the Census Bureau, other federal agencies, and private organizations.

• MOVING AND LOCATION, sourcebook and directory. 1998. 6-12 pages of information on 100 cities. (Van Pelt Reference HT 334 U5 M5 1998)

• AMERICA'S TOP-RATED CITIES; a statistical Handbook. 4v. 1997. 75 cities with over 100,000 population. Around 13p. of tables per city. (Van Pelt Reference HT 123 H669 1997)

• CITY PROFILES USA; a traveler's guide to major US cities. 3d. ed 1997. 200 cities: description, weather, phone numbers, info sources, travel, lodging and food, goods and services, media, education, attractions and events. (Reference E 158 C58 2d ed 1997)

• CITY CRIME RANKINGS. 3d. ed. 1997. 89 tables for over 200 cities of over 100,000 pop. (Van Pelt Reference Desk HV 6787 C577)

• HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT IN AMERICA'S TOP-RATED CITIES: a Statistical Profile 1996-97. Hospitals, education, finances, vital stats., health care reform, air quality, etc. 9p. for Phila. (Van Pelt Reference RA 445 H3364 2d ed. 1996-97)

• AMERICA'S TOP-RATED SMALLER CITIES, 1996-1997. 732p. 60 U.S. cities with population 25-100,000. Ca. 14pp. per city. Finances, employment, cost of living,education, crime, climate, health care., housing, taxes, transportation, etc. (Van Pelt Reference HT 123 A6692 2d ed. 1996-1997)

• PROFILES OF AMERICA; an informational, statistical, and relocation encyclopedia of U.S. cities, towns, and counties. 1995. 6 vols in 13. 3,140 counties, 19,325 incorporated municipalities, 3,640 Census designated places, 8,451 minor civil divisions. (Van Pelt Reference HT 123 P7624 1995)

• CRIME IN AMERICA'S TOP-RATED CITIES; a statistical profile 1995-96. (Van Pelt Reference HV 6787 C743)

• URBAN SOCIAL HEALTH; a chart book profiling the nation's one hundred largest cities. 1995. Charts, graphs, tables, lists. Demographics, health characteristics. (Van Pelt Ref RA 407.3 U72 1995)

• GALE CITY and METRO RANKINGS REPORTER. 1994. 3000 tables of physical, social, and economic data for 1500 cities and MSA's. Generally lists of top 50 in each category. Cost of living, crime, etc. (Van Pelt Reference Desk HT 123 G25 T49)

• PLACES RATED ALMANAC. NY: Prentice Hall, 1993. 435p. 343 metropolitan areas ranked and compared. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HN 60 S284 1993)

• AMERICAN SMALL CITY PROFILES; 324 cities over 25,000. 1993. (Van Pelt Ref HT 123 A6653 1993)

• AMERICAN SUBURBS RATING GUIDE AND FACT BOOK. 1993. Ranks 1770 suburbs in 50 metropolitan areas. Median income, home value, crime, pop. density, education, stability. (Van Pelt Ref HA 214 W55 1993)

• MOVING AND RELOCATING SOURCEBOOK; 100 metrop areas. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HT 334 U5 M5 1992)

• AMERICA'S TOP RATED CITIES; a statistical handbook. 4 vols. 75 cities (Van Pelt Ref HT 123 A669 1997) ca. 20 pp. per city, all aspects: economic, demographic, social, cultural, physical.

• LIVEABLE CITIES ALMANAC; 100 metropolitan areas. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HN 60 M36 1992) economic, health, air quality, water, crime, life expectancy, health services, recreation

• FACTS ABOUT THE CITIES; statistical profile of over 300 American cities. 1992. 473p. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HT 123 C385 1992)

• AMERICAN TALLY; statistics and rankings for 3,165 U.S. cities and towns (all towns over 10,000 population). 1990. Race, age, education, language, income, employment, housing (Van Pelt Ref Desk HA 201 1990n)

• Thomas. Scott. RATING GUIDE TO LIFE IN AMERICA'S SMALL CITIES. 1990. 538p. 219 small cities of ca. 50,000 to 200,000 pop. Rank and data for 50 variables. (Van Pelt Ref HA 214 T46 1990)

• 199 AMERICAN CITIES COMPARED; basic data profiles for the Nations Largest Cities. Burlington, IP, 1984. 216p. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HA 214 A13 1984)

• Gould, Jay. QUALITY OF LIFE IN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOODS; levels of affluence, toxic waste, and cancer mortality in residential zip code areas. 1986. 401p. (Van Pelt Ref Desk RA 645 C3 G68 1986)

• COST OF LIVING INDEX (American Chamber of Commerce Research Assn), 1982- Continues: Inter-city cost of living index. (Lippincott HD 6983 I573)

• MARKETS OF THE U.S. for BUSINESS PLANNERS, 2d ed. 1996. 2 vols. Historical and current profiles of 183 U.S. urban economies. Income data by industry. (Van Pelt Reference HC 106.8 M333 1996)

• Philadelphia Regional Office CPI ANNOUNCEMENT (Latest 2 yrs. Lippincott Periodicals Desk)

• CPI DETAILED REPORT, 1974- (Latest at Lippincott Periodicals Desk; Lipp HD 6983 A239)

• Dodd, D.B. HISTORICAL STATISTICS OF THE US: TWO CENTURIES OF THE CENSUS contains population of 200 cities over 100,000 in 1990 from 1790 to 1990; pages 443-462 (Van Pelt Ref HA 214 H57 1993)

• EDUCATIONAL RANKINGS ANNUAL (Van Pelt Ref Desk L 901 E365 1994)

U.S. States and Counties

• THE NEW BOOK OF AMERICAN RANKINGS. Rev ed. 1998. State rankings: goegraphy, climate, pollution, labor, income, poverty, government revenue, expenditure, debt, health, energy costs, health costs, education polulation, ethnic, immigration, family, housing, religion, agriculture, crime, transportation,. politics, government, culture.. Index. Arranged by topic, with separate section of state profiles. (Van Pelt Reference HA 214 N49 1998)

• Crime: State rankings. 1997. (Van Pelt HV 6787 C745; latest at Refrerence Desk)

• MACMILLAN COLOR ATLAS OF THE STATES. 1996. Thematic maps. (Van Pelt Reference G 1200 M4 1996)

• RATING GUIDE TO LIFE IN AMERICA's 50 STATEs. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HN 60 T49 1994)

• GALE STATE RANKINGS REPORTER. 1652p. Keyword index. (Van Pelt Ref HA 203 G354 1994)

• ACROSS AMERICA 848 COUNTY RANKINGS. Socio-economic, government, amenities. Quality-of-life variables. (Van Pelt Reference HT 123 H334 1994)

• WORLD ALMANAC OF THE USA. 408p. 1993. In-depth profiles of each state; best worst rankings in 100 categories; maps. (Van Pelt Reference E 18 W67 1993)

• ATLAS OF THE 1990 CENSUS. 1992. Thematic maps of all U.S. counties. Population, economics, race and ethnicity, education, housing. (Van Pelt Reference Desk G 1201 E2 M3 1992)

• STATE RANKINGS 1989. Rank and data for many demographic and socio-economic valiables (Van Pelt Ref Desk HA 203 S838 1989)

World Cities and Countries

• Kurian, George. FITZROY DEARBORN BOOK OF WORLD RANKINGS. Physical, economic, and social data; rankings; sources given. (Van Pelt Reference HA 155 K87 1998)

• Kurian, G. ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF WORLD RANKINGS. 1997. 300 tables ranking up to 190 countries: geography, climate, vital statistics, popolation, family, race, religion, politics, military, economy, finance, trade, agriculture, industry, energy, labor, transportation, communications, environment, consumption, housing, health, food, education, crime, media, world cities, culture, women, global indexes. Sources given. Subject index. (Van Pelt Reference HA 155 K87 1997)

• Kurian, G. NEW BOOK OF WORLD RANKINGS. 1991. Countries ranked by 219 variables. Major cities ranked by 10 variables. pp. 270-279 (Van Pelt Ref Desk HA 155 K87 1991)

• Estes, Richard. THE SOCIAL PROGRESS OF NATIONS. NY: Praeger, 1984. 223p. (Van Pelt HN 17.5 E79 1984)

• UNESCO STATISTICAL YEARBOOK, 1984-1990. Countries (Latest at Van Pelt Ref Desk AZ 361 U45 1990)

• WORLD QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS. Santa Barbara: CLIO, 1989 195p. (Van Pelt Ref HN 25 W9311 1989)

• United Nations. Statistical Office. COMPENDIUM OF SOCIAL INDICATORS, 1988. Countries. (Latest at Ref Desk HA 125 A1 U5)

• WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CITIES. v.1-2, North America. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HT 108.5 K87 1994)

• BOOK OF WORLD CITY RANKINGS; the quality of life and work in over 100 urban centers. 1986. 604p. Includes 14 large US cities. (Van Pelt Ref Desk HT 153 M37 1986)

Franklin subject search:

prices united states statistics
quality of life
cost and standard of living united states
index numbers economics
cost and standard of living pennsylvania
economic indicators

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