Accolades

We're convinced that Sarasota County offers an outstanding lifestyle and excellent business climate. But, don't just take our word for it. Here's what others have said about us.


One of the Best Places to Live

  • Florida Ranked Third-Best State for Business – by “Chief Executive Magazine.”  The Sunshine State followed Texas and Nevada, and beat out #4 and #5 Arizona and North Carolina.  California, New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. were ranked as the least desirable states for locating a business. (2005)

  • SARASOTA MAKES TOP TEN LIST OF BESTAMERICANARTTOWNS - Mr. John Villani, author of The 100 Best Art Towns in America: A Guide to Galleries, Museums, Festivals, Lodging, and Dining ranks Sarasota as the 3rd "Best Art Town" in America.  (February 2005)

  • Seven Florida Metros Among Top 20 on Milken Institute’s 2004 ‘Best Performing Cities’ Index; Sarasota-Bradenton Is No. 6.  (November 2004)

  • Forbes.com / Milken Institute has ranked the Sarasota/Bradenton area as the 39th "Best Place to Live" out of 294 U.S. metro areas. (2002)

  • Money Magazine named Sarasota one of the nation's "Best Places to Live" ranking the community seventh on a list led by New York City. (December 2001)
  • Money Magazine named Sarasota the "Best Small City in the United States." (December 2000)
  • Named one of the "Top 25 Terrific Places to Bring Up a Family" by Mothering Magazine. (July/August 2001)
  • Modern Maturity named Sarasota as the "3rd Best Big City in Which to Retire." (May/June 2000)
  • Expansion Management named Sarasota the "6th Best Metropolitan Area for Standard of Living" in the Country. (November 2000)
  • Money Magazine named Sarasota as the "21st Best Place to Live in the United States."
  • Money Magazine ranked Sarasota as one of the "Top 20 Places to Retire."
  • Entrepreneur Magazine placed Sarasota as the "6th Best Medium-sized City in the United States." It also named Sarasota as the "8th Best City in the South" (regardless of size).
  • The U.S. Housing Market has ranked Sarasota "20th in the United States for its Hotness Index."
  • Venice was named one of the top 10 small towns in Florida by Florida Trend Magazine in April 2001.
  • Venice was honored with the Accessible America Award in 2002. The award was presented by the National Organization on Disability on May 14, 2002. Venice competed against nine other finalist cities: Berkeley, California; Bloomington, Indiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Eugene, Oregon; Houston, Texas; Irvine, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Montgomery County, Maryland.



    • Top Choice for Business Relocation

    • Intel's 3rd Annual "Most Unwired Cities" survey ranks Sarasota as one of the top 100 U.S. cities and regions for the greatest wireless Internet accessibility. (July 2005)
    • Sarasota named one of top 10 markets for startups: According to a study by SalesGenie.com, the Sarasota metropolitan area has been named the 6th best market in the country for creation of startup businesses. That ranking is based on the growth of small businesses in this area between 1998 and 2003; small businesses are defined as having between one and 500 employees. Florida monopolizes the top 7 of the 100 metro areas surveyed. The top seven are: 1) Las Vegas (58.5% growth); 2) Riverside, California (39.2%); 3) (tied) Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach (both with 37.7%); 4) Melbourne, Florida (37.1%); 5) West Palm Beach (36.9%); 6) Sarasota (34.5%); 7) Orlando (33.9%).  (December 2004)
    • Forbes Magazine named Sarasota the 44th "Best Place to Live and Do Business" out of the largest 150 U.S. Metro Areas. (2003)
    • Expansion Management Magazine has rated Sarasota a four-star community, one of only two to achieve this rank in all of Florida. (2003)
    • Business Development Outlook Magazine has selected Sarasota as one of the "25 Choice Cities" ...the most desirable cities into which a business can relocate or expand for 2001-2002. (November/December 2001)
    • Sarasota was ranked "37th Best Place for Business and Careers" out of 200 metro areas nationwide by Forbes Magazine. (May 2001)
    • Forbes Magazine named Sarasota the "47th Best Place for Business and Careers" out of the top 200 U.S. metro areas.
    • Employment Review and BestJobs.USA has selected Sarasota as the "Best Place in Florida to Live and Work" and the "3rd Best Place in the Nation to Live and Work." (June 2001)
    • For the third straight year, Expansion Management Magazine has chosen the Sarasota/Bradenton area as a "Five-star Community on their Quality of Life quotient - Best Places to Live and Work." (May 2001)
    • BizMiner Business Vitality Review ranked the Sarasota/Bradenton metro area as the "3rd Best Second-Tier Metropolitan City for Business Relocations Nationwide." It is ranked 1st in Florida. (May 2001)
    • Sarasota/Bradenton MSA received 5 stars (the highest rating) by www.bizjournals.com. (September 2000)
    • Sarasota County has been ranked among the country's best employment generators by DRI/McGraw-Hill and the University of Arizona.
    • PC World and Money Magazine named Sarasota as the "23rd Best Place for Telecommuting" (working from home).

     

    Excellent Educational Opportunities

    • Sarasota County schools received the top ranking of “Gold Medal”, earning a place among the top 17 percent of 2,800 U.S. school districts surveyed by Expansion Management magazine. SarasotaCounty was the only school district in Florida to receive the gold medal rating, according to survey results published in the magazine’s December 2004 issue.

    • Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranked New college the seventh best value in public higher education. It is the only public college in Florida named a "best buy" in the noted Fiske Guide to Colleges 2003.
    • Time and Money Magazine both named Sarasota's New College as the "2nd Best College Bargain in the Country." New College outranked such schools as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
    • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked the Sarasota/Bradenton area "3rd in the Nation in Job Growth."
    • A New Business Opportunity Index developed by two professors in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at El Paso ranks Sarasota "7th among 316 Metropolitan areas in the U.S." for a variety of key conditions that positively influence business climate.
    • Money Magazine placed Sarasota Schools in the "Top 100 in the Nation." It also named the Sarasota/Bradenton area as the"21st Best Place to Live in the U.S." and one of the "Top 20 Places to Retire."
    • The Kiplinger Letter reported a lifestyle study by management consulting firm Runzheimer International, showing upscale Sarasota two percent below the U.S. average cost.

     

    Top Quality Health Care

    • Sarasota Memorial Hospital won the "Sterling Award" in 2001. Sarasota Memorial Hospital is one of two organizations that have won the 2001 Governor's Sterling Award for organizational excellence. The hospital also won the award of "Role Model for Performance Excellence."

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