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Ticket Editor: Sarasota should be No. 1 on Forbes’ 10 best places to live in Florida list

Despite my longtime love for Forbes' lists, I kind of hated this one that placed Sarasota behind bigger cities like Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami!

Wade Tatangelo
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The downtown Sarasota skyline including Sarasota Bay.

Forbes business magazine has been around for more than a century, and while I'm sure it featured compelling content before my lifetime, I've always been a fan of its richest Americans list that premiered in 1982. The popularity of that envy-inducing survey undoubtedly inspired Forbes to publish a boatload of lists, which now range from wealthiest celebrities (more envy!) to best places to live in Florida. The latter ran Dec. 24 and despite my longtime love for Forbes' lists, I kind of hated this one.

You should click on the article not only hoping, but half-expecting Sarasota to top the list. Earlier this year, the Sarasota-Manatee metro area ranked ninth on U.S. News & World Report's tally of best places to live in the entire country. And the previous summer, Time magazine named Sarasota among the whole wide World’s 100 Greatest Places of 2021. But on the new Forbes list of best places to live in the Sunshine State, we are merely No. 8.

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We barely beat out Tallahassee. We fell behind Melbourne. And Tampa took the No. 1 spot.

Forbes notes that it compiled its list of most desirable Florida cities by analyzing "recent data on key lifestyle factors such as the area’s median home price, personal income per capita, and the unemployment and crime rate." Authors also took into consideration the city size, diversity, public transit, health care access and cost of living.

Alas, while the article did mention outdoor activities, the word "fun" does not appear once.

"Consider living in Sarasota if you want to live in a central Florida beach town that’s family-friendly and also has a sizable local working population," Forbes writes. "When you need to visit a big city, the bustling Tampa metro area is only 60 miles to the north."

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Forbes then proceeds to explain that the "greater Tampa" area has a population that is four times as large as Sarasota's. They mention health care, manufacturing and insurance among our job opportunities. Siesta Beach and Lido Key get mentioned before concluding "Sarasota is also the center of Florida’s Cultural Coast with two art museums along with ballet and opera performances."

Basically, it's a 100-word blurb with about half that tiny space devoted to our proximity to Tampa, which, again, topped the list. Jacksonville placed second. Miami is at No. 6. Apparently, the journalists at Forbes favor big cities (with N.F.L. football teams that just might sneak into the playoffs regardless of their mediocre records.)

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Sarasota is also home to The Ringling, which contains the Museum of Art, Circus Museum, the Ca’ d’Zan mansion (pictured) overlooking Sarasota Bay, the Historic Asolo Theatre and the Bayfront Gardens and, for the children, the David F. Bolger Playspace.

Seriously, though, the beauty of living in Sarasota is that you can regularly attend a Bucs game starring Tom Brady without having to actually live in Tampa. And I say that as someone who grew up and graduated high school and college in Tampa. Look, Tampa has lots of great places to visit, but all the beaches you'll want to see are across Tampa Bay in Pinellas County (although it appears Forbes included St. Petersburg and Clearwater under "Tampa"), with the very best of the bunch just a bit farther south here in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

And the beaches are just the beginning of what makes Sarasota more charming than Tampa. If only the good folks at Forbes had read my column from May titled "Top 10 reasons Sarasota-Bradenton is best place to live in United States." It's all right there. Beaches. Restaurants. Arts scene. Parks and Preserves. Fun events.

And then there are those of us who prefer living in Sarasota's northern neighbor Bradenton — especially down along the newly expanded Riverwalk — to anywhere else in Florida. And Bradenton did not make Forbes' list, or even warrant a mention in the Sarasota blurb. The same blurb that mentioned Tampa. Twice!

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Wade Tatangelo is Ticket Editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Florida-Georgia Regional Dining and Entertainment Editor for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on TwitterFacebook and Instagram. He can be reached by email at wade.tatangelo@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.​​​​​​