Residents of Wisconsin, particularly Madison, would be proud to know that their city is recognized as a great place to reside in, according to the announcement made by Livability.com.
According to the website, the city bested 100 other small to mid-sized cities vying to be named as the best place to reside in this year. This is the second time Wisconsin made it to the annual ranking list.
One major attraction in the city is the University of Wisconsin, which is part of the Big Ten Universities in the country. In fact, Madison was named as one of the Top 8 best college towns in the United States in 2013, said Livability.com.
The city is known for its philosophy, the Wisconsin Idea, which advocates that education helps improve people's lives even outside the classroom setting, noted the website. This attracted many students, residents, and potential residents to flock to the city.
Aside from that, Madison is also a food destination. It popularized the idea of farm-to-table food fare in restaurants such as Nostrano and Fresco. These two are among the famous places to eat in the city, which offer organic and fresh dishes.
However, there are still some areas of improvement to be focused on by the city. These includetransportation and other infrastructure systems, noted the ranking website.
Mayor Paul Soglin said, "We've been focused on strengthening the bus system. We've opened up a number of new bicycle paths and several critical bridges that will get people from one side if the highway to another."
This is not the first time Soglin made efforts to further improve the city.
Madison, Wisconsin took the fifth spot in the Top 100 Best Places to live in the United States in 2014.
After the said announcement last year, Mayor Paul Soglin took it upon himself to further improve the city's livability ranking and attract more people to reside or visit it, said the website.
Soglin met with different officials in the city to come up with new ideas and recommendations to upgrade the city. His efforts did not fail as the city jumped to the top spot after just a year, reported the website.
As the city reaches No. 1, however, the mayor sees it as an opportunity to further work on Madison and not stop with the efforts exerted to achieve that goal.
"We have to make sure that everything we're doing well we continue to do well," he said. "And then we have to do more."
Madison, Wisconsin is followed by Rochester, Minnesota and then Arlington, Virginia on the third spot. Boulder, Colorado rests on No. 4, while Palo Alto, California is at the top five.
Another city in California, Berkeley, takes the sixth spot followed by Santa Clara, again in California. Missoula, Montana is at the eighth place. Meanwhile, Boise in Idaho is at ninth place in Livability's ranking and Iowa City rests on the top 10.
