When Outside magazine named Dallas the least outdoorsy city in America, as Eric reported this week, the insult felt personal. The magazine not only failed to notice local outdoorsy favorites like White Rock Lake and Klyde Warren Park, it also accused us all of wearing unfashionable "ten-gallon hats."
We now have harder proof that Outside magazine has made a mistake. Forbes, a much more prestigious magazine, reports this week Dallas is actually one of the country's best cities for millennials. The timing couldn't have been better.
Forbes' special report, "Best Cities And Neighborhoods For Millennials," puts Dallas in the very solid and respectable No. 8 spot.
The millennials are happy here because their average salary is $29,830 and their median rent is $874. Their favorite neighborhood is Oak Lawn.
To be completely honest, Forbes didn't really name Dallas itself as the eighth-best city for millennials, but instead selected an entity called "Dallas-Fort Worth." It's a mistake people commonly make when they just hang out in the DFW airport on a layover and never leave, but we'll assume that's not what happened here.
Also, another minor caveat: Forbes didn't actually analyze the data itself. Writer Kathryn Dill explains in the report that she obtained the data from Niche.com, a website that "has been tracking the behaviors, preferences, and decision-making of millennials since 2002." Sounds legit.
While the list didn't specifically analyze outdoorsiness, it finds other attractive factors about the selected cities:
The factors examined include percentage of the population identified as millennials (ages 25 to 34), median income, education level, and racial diversity. The ranking also favors lower median rents, unemployment rates, and crime rates ... User-generated survey data contributed on factors like nightlife, cultural attractions, shopping, and professional sports was also taken into consideration.
"It's a good balance of what you need to think about when you're starting to get serious about life beyond college," Niche.com's Mark Tressler tells Forbes.
That's all a nice way of saying that these are the best cities for aspiring yuppies who are still single and poor. And Dallas-Fort Worth is even better than San Diego and Minnesota-St. Paul if you a person in that group. So there. How does our Reunion Tower taste now, Outside magazine bitches?
