I have lived in Louisville my whole life, except for the 4.5 years I lived in OH for college, and think Louisville is great. Then I got to thinking, where does it rate in other people’s minds? What do folks think of things like the cost of living, how is the real estate market, and where do the schools rate. Oh, and we can’t forget about the statistics! What do they say about safety — you know all the stuff that makes a city… a city.
I did some research (aka googling) and came across Niche a pretty cool website that does ranking analytics to help people “discover the schools, companies, and neighborhoods that are right for you”. They get reviews from tons of people, crank it through their super AI (its really only a statistical analysis but it’s a lot more fun to say AI) to get what a place actually has to offer. I was surprised by some of the results! Louisville Area Rankings
The final overall grade was a B+, which is good, but when you look at our comparative #118 ranking out of 228 cities that puts us right in the middle of the pack! High five to us for the A in diversity and the A-minuses in commute, outdoor activities, and nightlife. Of course, when you read the following you will see that you probably won’t make it home with your wallet if you make it home at all.
Many of us aren’t surprised about our public school (C+) ranking, we have one of the biggest public-school systems in the country and its hard to find that many quality teachers and administrators. But have a look at crime and safety we get a C-. Look at these numbers: we have almost double the assaults, a little over 1/3 more robberies and get our your body armor, — 2.5 times more murders than the national average!
Your stuff isn’t safe either. We have 2/3 more burglary, 1/3 more theft and you better buy The Club because your car is as good as gone since you are 2x more likely to get your car stolen than the national average.
I was hoping when I started to write this to have a rah-rah post about how awesome our city is, but now all I want to do is call the mayor office and give them an ear full.