#1 Place to Live in the Nation (Money Magazine August 2006)

 #2 Place to Live in the Nation (Money Magazine August 2008)

 #1 City for Small Business (SBA 2006)

 3rd on Forbes 2008 Top 10 Places for Business and Careers (2008)

 12th on Forbes List of America’s 25 Smartest Cities (2008) (40% college degree, 2.58% doctorate degree, 2% professional degree, 93% high school graduates)

 Talented people in new creative-idea driven technologies and industries are migrating to Fort Collins to be in an environment with their talented peers, and to participate in the dynamic of “accelerated creative metabolism” (Richard Florida) where aggregate creative output and rate of same are substantially greater than other places.

 Employee productivity is higher, turnover is lower and labor costs are lower because employees want to live in Fort Collins where quality of life is high and cost of living is low