Move to Baltimore : Buzz

Business Insider has featured a list of the 15 Best Startups to Work For in America and two Baltimore companies made the list: Parking Panda and Groove Commerce. 

Creative digital agency Groove offers 100 percent benefits and free Friday lunches, Business Insider writes. The company also recently moved into a 10,000-square-foot office in the Fallsway Spring building near Little Italy. 

Parking Panda hosts retreats at the beach and outings in restaurants. 

Office design company Turnstone partnered with University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Professor Peter Cappelli to come up with the list. Turnstone asked for nominations and then judges selected the 15 best based on four criteria: Business goals and impact, leadership, the culture and office space, and success potential, a measure of the business's ability to grow and how that growth could contribute positively to the community.

See the whole list here. 

Home improvement magazine This Old House has chosen Locust Point as one of the best neighborhoods in the Northeast with charming, historic old homes.

The publication chose neighborhoods that have "plenty of New England charm, plus main streets and marinas that embrace East Coast living."

Of Locust Point, the magazine says it has a "gritty feel that celebrates its industrial past." It highlights Fort McHenry and Fort Avenue, with its local bars and crab houses and says the neighborhood is "the kind of place that would make Baltimore native and avant-garde filmmaker John Waters proud."

Norwich, Conn., Middletown Del., and Castine, Maine were some of the other towns that were honored for their historic houses.  

The health and longevity of Baltimore residents rose between 2008 and 2010, according to a study by New York's Social Science Research Council that was featured in Forbes. 

The research council put together a "heat map" that ranks each U.S. state on a scale of 0 to 10 — with 10 being the highest — on their overall state of well being. The council factors in education, income, health and longevity to come up with its number. 

"The five metro areas with the greatest increases in their index scores from 2008 to 2010 did so largely on the strength of improvements in health and longevity: Baltimore, Washington, DC, San Antonio, Dallas, and Boston," Forbes writes.

Connecticut fared the best among the states, with an index of 6.17 and high life expectancy and education levels. Maryland got a 5.94 on the index. You can see the entire story here.

A recent study published in CreditDonkey, a financial education website, ranked Baltimore among the best cities to live practically car free.

The website used three factors to determine the rankings: the percentage of people who commute to work using public transit, gas prices and commute time. 

Baltimore ranked ninth, ranking higher than Portland, Ore., but preceded by Los Angeles, Calif. According to CreditDonkey, Baltimore’s public transit system, including subway, light rail and buses, makes it easy for residents to get around the city and to and from the suburbs.

The top three cities to live car free were New York, N.Y., San Francisco, Calif., and Washington, D.C.

See the full list here.

Baltimore is the fourth best city for recent college graduates, according to a report from personal finance site NerdWallet.

The analysis took into consideration factors such as the percent of residents in the 18–24 age group, the city's entertainment options, transportation, cost of living and job prospects.

The list placed Baltimore just below Denver, Colo., and above Philadelphia, Pa. Boston ranked No. 1, followed by Seattle. 

Baltimore got on the list because of its high percentage of young people, its walkability and its moderate cost of living, according to NerdWallet.

The list also included a chart that showed additional characteristics of the ranking cities, such as the cost of a Pizza Hut pizza and local movie ticket prices.

See the list and chart here.

USA Today has recognized Baltimore's Inner Harbor as one of the best waterfronts to visit across North America.
 
The site featured nine U.S. cities in the list, including Baltimore, as well as one location in Canada.
 
Baltimore was joined on the list by cities such as Sarasota, Fla., San Francisco and New York City.
 
Baltimore was noted first and was commended for the many attractions that it offers along the Inner Harbor, as well as the street performers that provide entertainment.

See the full list here.

Maryland, Colorado and Virginia support innovation and their high-tech workforce, according to the fourth annual Enterprising States report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

Entrepreneur magazine features the list of states, which also included Utah and Massachusetts in the top five. The U.S. Chamber took a look at the number of high-tech businesses, STEM job concentration and programs that support entrepreneurs. The report credited the Free State for its Activate program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the Maryland Entrepreneurs Resource List. 

Read the entire story here. 

A four-year degree at Johns Hopkins University costs $222,000, but the hefty price tag may be worth it.

That's according to the 2013 College Education ROI Rankings, produced by PayScale. Going to the school offers students – and their parents — a 6.2 percent return on their investment. Johns Hopkins ranked No. 53 on the list. The salary and career website compared the median pay of a college's graduates versus  students who only possessed a high school degree. 

Also on the list were several other Maryland schools: Loyola University, Maryland; University of Maryland, College Park; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Notre Dame of Maryland University; Towson University; and, the Maryland Institute College of Art. 

Now there's more proof that Baltimore is a good place for young professionals.

Apartment Guide places Baltimore No. 19 on its list of the top 20 U.S. cities for recent college graduates, USA Today reports.

Baltimore didn't fare as well as its neighbors New York and Washington, D.C., which came in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Philadelphia, Seattle and Minneapolis rounded out the top five. Baltimore was also recently named one of the best East Coast cities for young adults. 

Apartment Guide took into account the number of bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and other factors to come up with its listing. You can see the list and USA Today story here.

Maryland is home to a thriving startup community, says Fast Company. The magazine ranks the Free State No. 3 on its list of the most innovative states.

Florida, Texas, Arizona and Alaska rounded out the top five. Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia were at the bottom three of the list, which ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Maryland also ranked No. 4 on Fast Company's breakdown of the number of startups per million residents.

The magazine culled data from a variety of sources to come up with the ranking: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity and others. 

Baltimore may not be as pedestrian friendly as New York or San Francisco, but it's more walkable than Denver or San Diego.

That's according to Walk Score, which ranked the 50 largest cities according to walkability. The Big Apple and San Francisco took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, followed by Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Walk Score came up with the rankings based on whether a city's residents can walk to nearby amenities and manage without a car. The Seattle organization promotes walkable neighborhoods.

College seniors graduating this May from area universities should consider staying put.

A recent study from the Business Journals places Baltimore No. 4 on its list of top cities for young adults on the East Coast. Washington, D.C., came in at No. 1, followed by Boston and New York.

The study factored the strength of the job market, cost of living and number of young, college-educated, employed adults to come up with its ranking.

In its national ranking of 102 cities throughout the U.S., Baltimore came in at No. 23. Austin, Texas, came out on top, followed by San Jose, Calif., and Washington, D.C.

You can read the entire story here.

Baltimore apparently isn't one of those cities where you'll see cash-strapped 20-somethings splurge on a pair of Manolo Blahniks. 

Baltimore ranks No. 8 on Card Hub's list of cities with the best budgeters. Boston, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Minneapolis were the top five on the list.

The credit card comparison site says Baltimore residents have, on average, a credit score of 738. Card Hub also took into account total debt-to-income ratios; the bankruptcy and foreclosure rates, mortgage debt and non-housing expenses.

Cincinnati, Tampa, Fla., and Orlando, Fla., were in the bottom three. 

If you're male and between the ages of 18 and 34, you could do worse than living in Baltimore. 

So says Forbes, which features an analysis from Rent.com of the top cities for single men. Baltimore made this list, along with Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. Rent.com says these are cities where women outnumber men by nearly 10 percent.

This is what Rent.com had to say about Baltimore:

"This delightful town wakes up locals with enchanting seascapes that capture both hearts and minds."

The Domino Sugar sign floating in the water is surely a nice view, but enchanting SEAscapes?

"Perhaps the call of the Atlantic is the romantic siren that draws so many young, single women to the town and the men in droves behind them."

The call of the Atlantic? In droves?

Hey we love Baltimore as much as the next person but someone needs to tell Rent.com that the body of water at the Inner Harbor ain't the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, Rent.com says all the single ladies need to move out to the West Coast. It cites Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, San Jose and Seattle as the top cities for single women.