Military life ranks high here

City's No. 1 overall, makes top 10 in 10 of 12 categories

For people in the armed forces, Huntsville has the best quality of life of any military town in the country, according to a new study by Expansion Management magazine.

Huntsville ranked No. 1 in overall quality of life in the magazine's 2006 supplemental publication, "Military Communities of Excellence," released this month. Huntsville, which is home to 14,479 active duty service members, according to the study, was compared to other communities with military populations between 10,000 and 19,999.

Rankings included public education, affordable housing, community standard of living, crime and safety, health-care costs, spouse employment opportunities, child-care costs and quality, continuing education opportunities, recreation and leisure, commuting and traffic, commercial air service and state legislative issues.

Huntsville placed in the top 10 in 10 of the 12 categories, ranking second in child-care costs and community standard of living and third in health-care costs, affordable housing and spouse employment opportunities. The city ranked 11th in crime and safety and 19th for recreation and leisure.

Mayor Loretta Spencer said she hopes people considering a move to Huntsville with new military commands heading to Redstone Arsenal will pay attention to the rankings regarding spouse jobs, day care and affordable housing.

"Those three categories are extremely important to the people who relocate here," Spencer said Friday.