Who knew?

From an email I just got from my parents:

Most Fun U.S. City Is...
It's not New York, New Orleans, or even Las Vegas. The city where you'll have the most fun is...Minneapolis.

That's the word from game maker Cranium, Inc., which commissioned Bert Sperling, who masterminded the "Best Places to Live" feature for Money magazine, to rank 50 cities for their fun factor. This was determined by the city's number of sports teams, restaurants, dance performances, toy stores, and the amount of the city's budget that is spent on recreation, among other factors.

And why did Minneapolis beat out cities known for the classic fun factors of sin and sun? According to Cranium, the goal was to find a city that is an "outrageously fun experience with something for everyone." Minneapolis won because it's the home of Mary Tyler Moore, four professional sports teams, and the best mall in America. Minneapolis has more theaters than Boston, more parks than Denver, more golfers per capita than any other city in America, and with 10,000 lakes in the state, Minnesota, has more coastline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. It even has 15 dog parks. Woof! Cranium CEO Richard Tait said, "It's almost a no-brainer" to crown Minneapolis the Most Fun City.


Perhaps even more startling than the fact that Minneapolis is No. 1 is that New Orleans is No. 50. Does that mean a trip to the Mall of America is more fun than Mardi Gras? You decide.

Here are the top 50 fun cities, ranked from top to bottom:


Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
Orange County, California
San Jose, California
Atlanta, Georgia
Chicago, Illinois
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Washington, DC
Oakland, California
Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington
Portland-Vancouver, Oregon-Washington
San Francisco, California
Baltimore, Maryland
Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin
Denver, Colorado
Detroit, Michigan
St. Louis, Missouri
San Diego, California
Indianapolis, Indiana
Cincinnati, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sacramento, California
Nashville, Tennessee
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas
Nassau-Suffolk, New York
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, North Carolina
Omaha, Nebraska
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Virginia
Houston, Texas
Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria, Ohio
Dallas, Texas
Memphis, Tennessee
Orlando, Florida
Louisville, Kentucky
Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
Riverside-San Bernardino, California
Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, North Carolina
New York, New York
Boston, Massachusetts
Hartford, Connecticut
Austin-San Marcos, Texas
Newark, Newark
Miami, Florida
Bergen-Passaic, Newark
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona
New Orleans, Louisiana


Seriously, who knew?