Awards & Rankings

Colorado Springs consistently ranks at the top of a variety of national and international lists.

No. 1 - U.S. News & World Report, "Most Desirable Place to Live"
No. 1 - Money, "Big Cities to Live In"
No. 1 - Outside Magazine, "Best Town"
No. 1 - Forbes, "America's Most Pet-Friendly City"
No. 1 - Men's Health, "Best Cities for Dogs"
No. 1 - Knowzen.com, "Most Caring City"
No. 1 - Zillow.com, "Santa's Top 10 Favorite Cities"
No. 2 - Livability, “Pet Cities”
No. 2 - Men's Fitness, "Fittest City in America"
No. 2 - Women's Health, "The Best Places to Live for Women"
No. 2 - MSN.com, “Cities of Convention Wisdom”
No. 2 - Livability, “Cities for Veterans”
No. 2 - InsuranceProviders.com, “Safest City in the United States”
No. 3 - Hellawella, “Fitness-Focused Cities”
No. 3 - Men's Fitness, "Top Sports Town"
No. 3 - Earth Day Network, “Best Places to Live”
No. 3 - Car and Driver, "Top 10 Best Drivers' Cities"
No. 3 - FedSmith, "Best Southwest City for Defense Jobs"
No. 4 - Thumbtack, "Most Business-Friendly City"
No. 4 - Mint.com, "Most Affordable City"
No. 4 - Frommer's Travel Guide, "Cities Ranked and Rated"
No. 5 - U.S. News & World Report, "Top Places to Live"
No. 5 - Kiplinger's Personal Finance, "Best Cities to Live, Work and Play"
No. 5 - Kiplinger, “Great City for Young Adults”
No. 5 - MSNBC, "Best Cities to Live, Work and Play"
No. 6 - U.S. News & World Report, “Best Weekend Getaway”
No. 6 - Forbes, "America's Most Wired Cities"
No. 6 - SustainLane, "Top Ten Alternative Fueled City Fleets"
No. 7 - American Lung Association, “Cleanest U.S. Cities”
No. 7 - Backpacker Magazine, "Best Places to Raise an Outdoor Kid"
No. 8 - Business Week, "Best Places to Start Over"
No. 8 - Sunset Magazine, “Fittest City in the West”
No. 9 - Forbes, "America's Best Bang-for-the-Buck Cities"
No. 10 - Forbes, "Best Places for Business and Careers"
Top 10 - Livability.com. "Top Downtowns"
Top 10 - Outside Magazine, "Best Big Cities for Active Families"
Top 10 - Fox News, “Least Obese Metro Areas”
Top 10 - Kiplinger, "Great Cities for College Grads"
Top 10 - U.S. News and World Report, "Green Places to Retire"
Top 10 - AARP, "Top Fall Vacations for Baby Boomers"
Top 10 - Men's Health, "Best Teeth"
Top 10 - Budget Travel, "The 10 Coolest Small Towns" (Manitou Springs)
No. 10 - GALLUP - 2012 Least Obese Metro Area
No. 11 - the University of Toronto, "Best Places to be a Kid on Christmas Morning"
No. 11 - ERC & Primacy Relocation, "Best Places to Relocate"
No. 11 - The Boyd Company, "Best Places to Build a Data Center"
No. 11 - Resonance, "America's 50 Best Small Cities"
No. 13 - New York Times, "52 Places to Go in 2020"
No. 13 - The Advocate "Gayest City"
No. 12 - Cooking Light Magazine, "America's Healthiest Cities"
No. 14 - CubeSmart.com, Top 20 Cities to Move to in 2020
No. 15 - Portfolio Magazine, "America's Top 25 Smartest Cities"
No. 15 - Partenting.com, “Best City for Families”
No. 17 - Farmer Insurance Group, “Most Secure Places to Live”
No. 17 - RelocateAmerica, "Top 100 Places to Live"
No. 18 - Bicycling Magazine, "America's Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities"
No. 18 - TripAdvisor, Travelers' Choice 2010 "The Best Destinations"
Top 25 - American Style, "Mid-Sized U.S. City Art Destination"
No. 27 - USA Today, “Most Literate City”
Silver Award - League of American Bicyclists, "Bicycle Friendly Community Award"

Alexea Veneracion

Communications Manager
Alexea@VisitCOS.com
719-685-7639

Alexea joined VCOS in February 2020 after spending five years at a public relations agency. She oversees VCOS’ internal and external communications, including media and influencer relationships, social media strategy and editorial content. Ask her about the next 14er on her hiking list or her adorable (but mischievous) golden retriever named Ranger.