Athenians, Consider Yourself Lucky

Like comedian Pat Oswalt once said, Athenians live in a weird, bubble, dream city of goodness. Kiplinger.com, the Web site for "timely, trusted personal finance advice and business forecasts," agrees. They named Athens as the 5th best city of 2009. Though the Classic City is often praised for being the music capitol of the South (I'm a little biased), or for it being home to one of the best Universities in the country (again, a little biased), this year, Kiplinger says it's all about jobs. While half of Georgia's counties are reporting unemployment of 10% or higher (Atlanta is 9.1%), the unemployment rate in Athens is 6.8%. This we can attribute to the University as well as our area's hospitals which provide employment to not only Athens' residents but surrounding cities as well. Hospitality is the only sector to have shown employment growth in 2009, largely due to the bulldog's big football season and the many conventions Athens hosted this year. Other cities to make the Top 10 list were Huntsville, Ala. (#1), Washington D.C. (#3) and Raleigh, N.C. (#10). So in this joke of an economy, consider yourself lucky to be living in this dream city of goodness. 

-Kristen Lee

Currently listening to "The Reeling" by Passion Pit

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