Why is this important?

Creative, exciting cities and regions develop, attract, and retain innovative, talented people required by 21^st century knowledge economies.  Developed by Richard Florida in The Flight of the Creative Class  and its 2006 follow-up The Rise of the Creative Class, the Creativity Index measures a region’s capacity for talent retention based on the proportion of the workforce comprised of “knowledge workers,” the strength and growth of the high-tech industry, the level of innovation as measured by patents per capita, and demographic diversity of all kinds. 

How are we doing?

Metro Boston consistently ranks high among US cities on various creativity rankings.  In previous years, Boston ranked 3^rd, tied with San Diego, and Massachusetts ranked 1^st on Richard Florida’s Creativity Index. While that index is not consistently calculated, as a proxy, in 2006, Forbes Magazine ranked Metro Boston #2 in its Best City for Singles among the largest 50 Metro-areas in the US: Using a similar methodology to the Creativity Index, Boston ranked 1^st in “Coolness”, which measures population diversity and the number of creative class workers. Boston ranked 2^nd for cultural facilities per capita and 5^th for nightlife, restaurants and clubs.