Suffolk gets a Top 10 rank

Published 9:52 pm Friday, December 6, 2013

Movoto.com singled out North Suffolk restaurant Vintage Tavern for praise in an article ranking Suffolk as the No. 10 city in Virginia. The amenities section of the ranking focused on Southern restaurants and hiking.

Movoto.com singled out North Suffolk restaurant Vintage Tavern for praise in an article ranking Suffolk as the No. 10 city in Virginia. The amenities section of the ranking focused on Southern restaurants and hiking.

Suffolk was the only non-Northern Virginia city ranked in the top 10 cities in Virginia recently by Movoto, an online real estate resource.

The city ranked No. 10 on the list, which was compiled based on factors including amenities, cost of living, crime, level of education, median household income and diversity.

“It appears that Suffolk is one of the best cities when it comes to amenities,” Movoto’s Travis Sawrie wrote in an email. “It has the best ranking for amenities in the top 10, falling behind Richmond, which came in 27th overall.”

Email newsletter signup

The city also ranked well on cost of living and diversity, Sawrie said.

This is the first time the website has done this particular ranking, but it has done other Virginia rankings, such as the 10 safest cities in the state.

The state’s 50 most populous cities and towns were evaluated. Suffolk’s No.-10 ranking put it behind Centreville, Tysons Corner, McLean, Annandale, Oakton, Alexandria, Chantilly, Reston and Rose Hill.

According to the article, Suffolk’s much lower cost of living than the rest of the top 10 was a key contributor to its ranking.

“Suffolk also scored points when it came to diversity and amenities,” the article states. “Just 52.3 percent of the overall population is of one ethnicity; and when it comes to hiking and the number of Southern food restaurants, both per person and in the town in general, you really can’t beat Suffolk (and you really can’t beat Vintage Tavern).”

The article singled out the Southern restaurant in Governor’s Pointe.

City spokesman Tim Kelley was pleased to hear of the ranking.

“We always appreciate when others recognize what we know … that Suffolk is a great place to live, work and play,” he wrote in an email. “We welcome the positive recognition of our city.”