Secrets to San Diego's Urban Appeal

SAN DIEGO—Livability, education, health and local economy and taxes are some of the attributes leading San Diego to be the sixth-best large city in the country to live in, WalletHub spokesperson Jill Gonzalez tells GlobeSt.com. After being named one of the world's smartest cities by National Geographic, San Diego was recently voted by a WalletHub survey as 2015's sixth best large US city in which to live. We spoke exclusively with Gonzalez about what makes San Diego so appealing as a city.

GlobeSt.com: What are the attributes of San Diego that make it one of the top-10 best large US cities in which to live?

Gonzalez: For livability, the city ranked fifth overall. San Diego is one of the best cities for families, ranking seventh. It's also a great place to live in because of its diversity, third highest in the nation. When it comes to the working environment for parents, San Diego ranked high for both working moms and working dads, fifth and sixth, respectively.

For education, San Diego ranked third. It's actually the best big city in the country for school-system quality (based on its GreatSchools City Score) and the 12^th most-educated city. Regarding health, San Diego ranked fourth lowest for “percentage of population smoking daily” with just 6.58% of the population smoking. For the obesity metric, San Diego ranked in the top 10 with 22.34% of the adults with a BMI of 30 or higher. The fruit or vegetable consumption is the fifth highest in the nation with 28.9% of adults eating them, and the life expectancy in San Diego is 81.3 years—eighth highest in the nation.

For local economy and taxes, San Diego ranked 18^th, being the city with the 12^th best budgeters in the country. The residents of San Diego pay the 15^th least-expensive energy bill.

GlobeSt.com: In which areas could San Diego stand to improve, and how could it do so?

Gonzalez: The city can and should improve the facilities offered to people with disabilities. Looking at the ranking (40^th), it's clear the city can do better. Also, San Diego ranked below average (48^th) for the job-market ranking and 53^rd for starting a business. It seems that the economic environment could stand improvement and that local authorities could work on trying to create the proper tools for residents to use in order to develop new businesses and new jobs.

GlobeSt.com: Given its strong recovery from the recession, is it likely that San Diego will move up in the ranks of livable large cities?

Gonzalez: That is a very strong possibility if the city will work to improve its weak spots.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about San Diego as a great city in which to live?

Gonzalez: San Diego is a great city for participation in physical activities and for fitness centers per 100,000 population, with 117 fitness centers, ranking 10^th. The city also ranked better than average for pet lovers at 19^th.