Parenting: Let’s just pretend last year’s rankings never happened, shall we?

Photo courtesy of
‘At the newspaper stand’
courtesy of ‘faungg’

I can’t even try to explain this one.

Last year, Parenting magazine put Arlington atop its annual “Best Place to Live & Raise a Family” rankings, while the District, whose features were touted by the magazine as its strength through proximity, was ranked #71.

This year’s rankings are out, and it seems there’s a bit of a flip-flop.  This year, DC is ranked #1, and Arlington is #70.

Has so much changed in the last 365 days since the last rankings were out? Nope, not really, but it seems that the algorithm at Parenting Magazine sure has.  What I said last year, applies now in reverse:

“I don’t mean to bag on the District here, it’s definitely a great place to live, but it’s a great place to live in part because of its proximity to Arlington.  I’d say having now lived in both DC and Arlington, there’s no way at all that Arlington is #70 while DC is #1.  Something’s deeply broken here, and I’d love to know what.  I won’t come out and accuse Parenting of anything short of faulty math and bad writing.”

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.

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2 thoughts on “Parenting: Let’s just pretend last year’s rankings never happened, shall we?

  1. There must be a “Town of District” on the Columbia River in Washington state. That’s the one they’re probably referring to. It’s the only logical explanation.

  2. This is a really great example of just how arbitrary these magazing “ranking lists” usually are. It’s really a shame that they get so much press whenever they come out.