A website known for it city rankings has put Gainesville high on a list of metro areas that most mirror national standards.
The credit score and report website WalletHub has ranked Gainesville fifth among small metro areas that most resemble the U.S. as a whole in several demographical statistics.
The company looked at several metrics, including age, gender and income. WalletHub Analyst Jill Gonzalez said Gainesville did really well in one particular area.
"Specifically when we're looking at the ones where it really did the best in, it was second best when it comes to housing statistics, so that is median house price, household income, et cetera, and also very close too, economic statistics," Gonzalez said.
And Gainesville came in 28th when it comes to how much its racial breakdown resembles the U.S.
"Cities that are close to the demographics of the U.S., or maybe even more diverse, definitely have an advantage in getting qualified people really to be employed there, and then benefit the economy overall," Gonzalez said.
The company, which bills itself as a personal-finance website, did the study for three main reasons.
"It’s important to do so for many reasons, such as deciding whether we want cultural variety or uniformity, learning which cities exceed or lag behind national standards for certain factors such as education or income; and finding the most fertile ground to develop an entrepreneur’s business idea," a release from WalletHub stated.
Among all of the 379 metro areas WalletHub looked at, Gainesville ranked 57th.
Gainesville’s resemblance to the U.S. (1=most; 190=avg.)
- 187th – Gender
- 28th – Race
- 51st – % of population with health insurance coverage housing
- 78th – % of households receiving food stamps
- 155th – Educational attainment
Source: WalletHub
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/6/412506/gainesville-5th-on-list-of-small-metros-for-how-much-it-resembles-the-us-as-a-whole