Magazines, websites and public interest groups just love to grind their gears pitting Portland and other cities against one another based on vast swaths of sometimes-relevant, often-trivial criteria, like overgrown data-driven dogfights. Trying to form a vision of your city based on a compilation of these rankings is enough to drive an urban citizen mad, and we definitely don’t want to be the No. 1 most insane city in America. Here is a selection of Portland’s recent rankings:

#1 unhappiest city in America (BusinessWeek, 2009)
#3 for athletic/active people (Travel+Leisure, 2008)
#70 most migraine-afflicted area
#48 highest quality of living in the world (Mercer, 2008)
#1 best city for senior citizens
(Bankers Life and Casualty Company, 2005)
#35 best place for business and career (Forbes, 2008)
#11 best big metro city to do business (Inc., 2008)
#8 best city for beer lovers in the world (ShermansTravel, 2006)
#2 lowest business taxes as a percent gross state product (Council on State Taxation, 2009)
#1 for quality of life and visitor experience overall (Travel+Leisure, 2008)
#2 most fiscally fit city (State Farm Insurance, 2004)
#1 in sustainability (SustainLane, 2008)
#2 for farmers’ and specialty food markets (Travel+Leisure, 2008)
#1 greenest city in America (Popular Science, 2008)
#9 best long-term housing bet (Forbes.com, 2008)
#2 most secure place to live, large metro areas (Farmers Insurance Group, 2008)
#11 riskiest city for identity theft (Sperling’s BestPlaces)
#1 best city for cycling (Bicycling, 2008)
#5 worst city for bike theft (Kryptonite, 2008)
#8 best town (Outside, 2007)
#1 best city to have a baby (FitPregnancy, 2008)

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