Snyder Ranked 48th best place to live in U.S.
By Ben Barkley
Snyder Daily News Managing Editor
The rest of the country just learned what Snyder residents already knew.
Last month, 24/7 WalI Street, a Delaware-based corporation that runs an online financial news and opinion company, ranked Snyder as the 48th best American city to live in.
"I think it is great that we are ranked No. 48 in the top 50," said Snyder Chamber of Commerce board chair Hope Heaton. ''That proves that we are a hidden gem in West Texas."
Development Corporation of Snyder Executive Director Brooke Proctor said being ranked in the top 50 will help her when recruiting businesses.
"This will be a great marketing tool for all of us to use in Snyder. It will help us promote economic growth,'' she said.
Mayor Tony Wofford was equally as excited about the ranking.
"We are No. 48 today working our way into the Top 20," he said. ''This just goes to show that all of the hard work the community has been doing is paying off."
The online news agency description stated Snyder was originally known as "Hide Town'' for its early buffalo hide dwellings, and "Robber's Roost'' for the criminals that would often pass through it in the late 19th century.
"After the discovery of oil in the surrounding Scurry County in 1948, the town's population peaked to roughly 16,000 before dropping to its current level," the report stated.
The report also noted Snyder's poverty rate as a reason for being on the Iist.
''Though Snyder residents do not have especially high incomes - the typical household earns $50,325 a year - the area's poverty rate of 9.3 percent is lower than both national and state rates," the report stated. "The relative lack of financial hardship is due in large part to a low cost of living. Goods and services are 11 percent less expensive in Snyder than they are nationwide, on average."
Other Texas cities in the top 50 were Storm, Lake (No. 47), Buda (No. 36), Highland Park (No. 34), Trophy Club (No. 17), Dumas (No. 4)., Perryton (No. 3) and West University Place (No. 1).
The news agency created a weighted index of more than two dozen measures to identify the best American cities in which to live. The communities on the list span the country, but are disproportionately concentrated in the Midwest.
Though every city on this list is relatively small -home to fewer than 25,000 people - many are located within a major metropolitan area and are well within commuting distance of a large city.
Republished with permission from the Snyder Daily News, Snyder, Texas.