Sperling's BestPlaces


Sperling's BestPlaces is a website created and maintained by author and researcher Bert Sperling. It offers information about cities and zip codes in the United States including climate, economy, population, demographics, education, cost of living, and employment.

Features

By entering in any U.S. city or zip code, a detailed breakdown of that area is supplied. Categories of information provided include demographics, health, economy, housing, climate, crime rates, cost of living, religious constituency and voting history.
Users can register for free and then leave their own personal comments and insights about each place, which are then provided on the site for others' reference.

Studies

Sperling is often commissioned to conduct research studies which rank U.S. cities and metro areas on various criteria. Examples include "Most Stressful Cities" for CNBC "Best Places for Veterans" for USAA, and "Where to Live to Avoid Natural Disasters" for the New York Times.
Since 2006 the firm has carried out the annual Campus Sexual Health Report Card for Trojan condoms, which measures and ranks the sexual health resources of U.S. colleges and universities.

History

The site was started in 1998 and evolved from a computer program that Sperling created called "Best Places U.S.A."