Finding best place to live

The Internet can be a valuable tool when it comes to hunting for a place to move. A “best places to live” search will show you lists of potential cities, with ratings in any of a dozen categories. If you’re just starting a family and want good schools, if you want an inexpensive house and good employment opportunities in the West, or if you’re retiring and want low taxes on the East Coast, there’s a list for you somewhere. Money magazine and its online site have a number of lists taken from data it accumulates and rates, such as Best Places to Live, Top 10 Small Cities, and Best Big Cities.

Generally you’ll find quite a bit of information listed, which is a good starting point for your own hunt. For example, CNN Money online says that Fort Collins, Colo., is a great place to live, listing it as No. 1 in a Top 100 list in 2006. It gives the population (128,000), cost of a typical single family home ($215,000), and the pros (outdoors lovers’ paradise, little stress), as well as the cons (tech-dependent economy).

But what if you want a combination of things in a new place? Let’s say you want good schools, good employment opportunities and low taxes, and you want to live in New England? There are sites that will walk you through your wish list.

Check out Sperling’s at www.bestplaces.net and take the quiz. You’ll be able to rate from 1 to 7 how important or unimportant the various choices are. You can plug in your ideal weather, education, culture, transportation, population, housing and the economy. Or you can ignore some categories altogether.

The Find Your Spot [ www.findyourspot.com] quiz has you rate statements such as “I love humidity and hot summers,” with Agree or Disagree to come up with your best places. Once you have a list of potential cities, read local newspapers online to get a feel for the city. Check out News Voyager at www.newspaperlinks.com.

Here’s a hint that could save you some heartbreak as you choose a new place to live: Look for online blogs and responses to city ratings to see what the locals say. You’re likely to find the truth there, whether good or bad.