Outside Magazine Selects Chattanooga

Since 2007, Outside Magazine has featured Chattanooga in several of their "Best Outside Towns in the US" annual issue.  In 2007, we were a runner up to Asheville, NC.  In 2008, Chattanooga one actually one of the 20 best towns.  This year (2010), we were a runner up to the "second best city in the East" - just slightly behind Portland, Maine.  The Chattanooga Times Free Press covered this Outside story earlier this year:

By: Jessie Gable
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Original Article found at:  http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jul/31/outside-selects-chattanooga-one-best-cities-east/

Chattanooga is the second-best city in the East, at least according to Outside magazine.

The Scenic City came in behind Portland, Maine, Outside reports in its August issue.

Sam Moulton, executive editor at Outside Magazine, said it was Chattanooga’s accessibility to recreational activities, it’s affordable living costs — and a few Southerners on the magazine’s staff — that led to the nomination.

“We started out by looking at some of the big-picture ideas and socio-economic factors like unemployment and median home value, and percentage of the population with a four-year degree,” Moulton said. “Then we looked at everything from two sides: the livability and the recreation.”

Ruth Thompson, 52, of Outdoor Chattanooga, said being ranked in a national publication could boost the city’s tourism profits.

“There are some places that have higher mountains, and there are some places that have wilder rivers; some places have more national parks,” Thompson said. “But in Chattanooga, you are literally 10 minutes from a hiking trail if you are downtown.”

In 2008, Outside ranked Chattanooga as one of the best places to live in the country.

Lifetime Chattanooga resident Samantha Christen, 40, said she has participated in every outdoor activity the city has to offer and stayed because “the temperate rainforest and the Southeast in general, the lush vegetation and everything else here makes it home.”

Christen also said Chattanooga offers a family oriented atmosphere for outdoor activities, a perk that other cities lacked.

Outside magazine is a national publication with a circulation nearing 700,000, according to its website.