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# Unveiling the #1 Best Place to Live in 2016

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FnANjBTi.m3u8" -->
## Video: Unveiling the #1 Best Place to Live in 2016

[Watch (HLS stream): Unveiling the #1 Best Place to Live in 2016](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FnANjBTi.m3u8) (6:05)

![Unveiling the #1 Best Place to Live in 2016](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FnANjBTi/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2016-09-19. MONEY reveals the number one best place to live in America for 2016._


---

Jul 27, 2023 8:48 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[How America's Best Place to Live Got to Be That Way](/video/el1Spg4I/)

### How America's Best Place to Live Got to Be That Way

[MONEY's Best Places to Live Launch](/video/39tOqwJM/)

### MONEY's Best Places to Live Launch

[This is the Best Place to Live in America in 2016](/video/GyojQ1Qn/)

### This is the Best Place to Live in America in 2016

---


## Transcript

And finally, we're at number one. So let's review the clues. So number one. This year's winner came from a state that had never before had a number one best town to live. Number two, the indie rock band, Animal Collective, named an album after an iconic landmark in our 2016 best place to live. Clue number three. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Michael [ UNKNOWN ] was raised here. And clue number four, talk about girl power. This years winner has two cities in France, Spain and Ghana. So now let's review the best places so far. Naperville, IL, Beaverton, Oregon, Weston, Florida, Clarkstown, New York, Highlands Ranch, Colorado Persippany, New Jersey, West Des Moines, Iowa, Plano, Texas, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and, drum roll please.

[ SOUND ] If you can hear that out in Columbia, Maryland is this year's best place to live! Congratulations Columbia, Maryland! So, joining us from Skype, if the technology geniuses are doing their job, is Allan Kittlemen. He grew up in Columbia and is the Howard County Executive. Allan, are you there? Can you hear us? We're here, we're very, very excited, thank you so much, but it's something we've known forever, that [ LAUGH ] Columbia is the one of the best place to live in the world but now the rest of the country know it. So, where are you stated [ UNKNOWN ] it looks like you're on the ocean or a lake or something there [ LAUGH ] Now we agree, men made lakes here in Columbia, this is like [ UNKNOWN ].

Behind me are all the leaders of Columbia who joined us And we're so excited. You also see the statues behind us. The gentleman to your right is Jim Rouse, who it was his vision to build Columbia back almost 50 years ago. Next year will be the 50th anniversary. And so I'm sure he would be a very proud person to know that the city that he planned is now the best place to live in America. So Taylor here grew up in Maryland. He had the good fortune or misfortune to grow up in Montgomery County, Maryland. If somebody like Taylor who has a family wanted to look for a best place to live, why would they wanna come to Columbia?

My gosh. Why wouldn't you wanna come to Columbia? We have 3600 acres of open space, 94 miles of pathways. We have the greatest schools in the world here in Howard County. We have a great community college right here in Columbia, one of the best community colleges in the country. We have a premier hospital [ UNKNOWN ] Hospital in Columbia part of the John Hopkins medical system. We have Meriwether [ UNKNOWN ] Pavillion has the greatest live races in North America. I mean why else would you want to come to Columbia? [ INAUDIBLE ] Sounds great. Is there room for us there? [ LAUGH ] There's always room for you in Columbia.

We are growing. We have a downtown that's becoming more urbanized which is what we always needed in Howard County. So Columbia, the ten villages, have really helped us become The great county and brought a lot of diversity, a lot of strength to our community. And, again, it was the vision of Jim Rouse to bring people from all incomes, all races, all ethnic groups together and it really has proved to be successful here. What's been the biggest change you've seen over time with Columbia? Well there's no question that the growth of Columbia, that the number of people. I actually will be 58 years old next month, so I was here before Columbia.

And so I don't tell people I grew up in Columbia, I tell them I grew up with Columbia. And, I tell ya, as you see the changes, and you see the villages become stronger. You see the new villages, the older villages being revitalized. We're working on several villages now to revitalize them, I mean Columbia just continues to attract people because of just the warmth of the people who live here. And just all the amenities that people have to enjoy. Alan, one of the things that we factor in to our choices for best places, which we did quite a bit this year, is diversity. We feel it's really important for anybody, if we're gonna tell you this is the best place to live, we want a place that anybody's going to feel comfortable and anybody can afford.

Can you talk a little bit about the diversity of Colombia and how it's special in that way? I can certainly tell you that. When I was born, [ INAUDIBLE ] was not a very diverse county and Columbia started 50 years ago, 49 years ago, 50 years next year. And that was one of the visions Jim Rouse had. A place for people of all ethnic and all racial and all income levels could come and live. And then so we have really made it a passion to make sure that we have affordable housing here in Howard County. We're doing that here in the downtown Columbia. But Columbia does. It's very diverse. I remember when I was younger, as Columbia was being built, you would see interracial marriages.

Which was not uncommon here in Columbia. And you would see people playing together. You have young people who of all different ethnic, all of different races, all playing together in parks. It's just a unique place to be. A place where you feel welcome from the minute you come here. And I'm sure that's what Jim Roust wanted to have happen and it has really come to fruition. What's your favorite place to grab a bite? What's your favorite place to get some coffee? That's not fair. Now you're going to put him on the spot. That's not fair. That's really not fair, but just down by the lakefront, now Take Five is here, we have Whole Foods, Which is right there near me as well.

We have a lot of great places to go on the lake front. [ UNKNOWN ] The bistro is wonderful French cuisine. So we have so many different alternatives.. That's another great thing about Columbia, you can, if you want to go to a restaurant, you can go to any of restaurants. All different cuisines are here in Colombia. A lot because of the diversity we have here. You mentioned Jim Rouse a couple of time, the founder of Columbia. But little known fact outside of Columbia is his grandson also grew up in Columbia. And I don't know, does Ed Norton drop into town at all? [ LAUGH ] He comes once in a while.

I don't see him that often, but I'm sure he's pretty busy. Young man. But yeah, he's a product of Columbia. He also used to act at Toby's Dinner Theater, which is just down the road from where we are. One of the premier places to go in downtown Columbia, so Yeah, you know, he certainly is a proud native of Columbia. Cool, well, thank you very much. Congratulations. Congratulations. And I hope everybody there is as excited as we are. Columbia is beautiful. [ APPLAUSE ] [ LAUGH ] Thank you so much. Well, thank you for joining us and we'll be moving in next week. Yeah. [ LAUGH ] We look forward to having you here.

Alright, thank you Columbia, take care. Take care.

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