Mayor Purzycki says that Wilmington’s attractive qualities, make it a wonderful city to live, work and enjoy life, and is finally being revealed to the world by Thrillist online.
Thrillist, a “digital brand that offers new, unknown or under-appreciated information regarding food, drink, entertainment, nightlife, gadgets, gear and city living,“ has named Wilmington one of “America’s Best Small Cities to Move to Before They Become Too Popular.”
“Organizations and people throughout Wilmington are working hard to raise the city’s standing in real life where it matters, as well as in polls or rankings that purport to show our city’s performance based on certain criteria,” said Mayor Purzycki. “While we are flattered, we take these types of rankings with a grain of salt, knowing they can be good or bad in any given poll or ranking, but we don’t shy away from our ultimate goal which is to make Wilmington a much safer, more attractive, and more prosperous city.”
The Mayor said others are noticing Wilmington’s values and benefits. “In recent years,” he said, “Wilmington has been designated as the 28th best place in the country for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and for STEM graduates to live; the 7th best city in which lawyers should live and work; the third-most cultured small town in the United States; the third best city in the country in which to start a business and the number one city in the country for active retirees.”
According to Thrillist, dozens of writers around the country were asked to identify small American cities (with a max population of 70,000) where they’d put down roots. The online site said it looked for…. “up-and-coming hotspots, underappreciated gems, and towns where a person with verve could scratch out a cool life. Places where you can raise kids and those kids can raise dogs and those dogs can raise hell. And where, when your friends visit, they take a seat on your porch and say, ‘Damn, this is nice. What does your mortgage cost, again?’”
Here is the official announcement from Thrillist naming Wilmington as one of 15 of America’s best cities where you should live before they become too popular:
You may know Wilmington as that magical place where hundreds of thousands of businesses can fit into a single PO box, but Delaware’s biggest city (which clocks in a hair above our 70K population limit, but we just couldn’t resist) has undergone massive changes in the last decade thanks to a booming job market and massive investments in the city’s cultural landmarks. Major financial institutions — J.P. Morgan, Barclays, BlackRock — have shifted jobs to Wilmington, sending an influx of young professionals (and their salaries) that has breathed new life into the city’s cultural landmarks like the Queen Theater and the iconic Hotel du Pont.
The city and state, meanwhile, have committed to fostering entrepreneurship and co-working spaces like The Mill and Start It Up Delaware, a public-private partnership aiming to bring tech talent to the First State. “The city really checks off a lot of boxes,” says Wilmington native and local entrepreneur Matt Van Belle. “The cost of living is cheap, you can walk everywhere, you have access to major metros via train or a short drive, and some of the best beaches on the coast are an hour away.” Plus, the mad beer geniuses at Dogfish Head are only a short drive away, which means the crew at Washington Street Alehouse are always getting kegs you won’t see anywhere else.”
Regardless of the virtues of this particular ranking or any that may come along good or bad, Mayor Purzycki said Wilmington continues to take steps to improve the quality of life for citizens. “For every ‘best of’ ranking, there are sure to be a few ‘worst of’ rankings,” said the Mayor. “Ultimately, we see the rankings, good or bad, as a reminder that change is the only constant and the effort to improve our city and its image must never stop.”
Visit this site for the complete post from Thrillist: https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/best-small-cities-in-america.
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