The website SmartAsset ranked the best minor league baseball towns in the country. Its researcher analyzed 158 cities and towns using two scores: a quality of life score and a game day experience score.
Pensacola ranked #18. The city had one of the highest game day experience scores, 89.01. In the top 25, only Allentown, Pa. (92.52) and Columbus, OH (92.52) had higher scores.
To calculate the game day experience score, SmartAsset focused on team records (aka the percentage of wins), minor league classes, stadium rankings and average attendance rates.
Where Pensacola was hurt was with its quality of life score, 41.08.
Each score was developed using the same nine metrics that we considered in the 2015 edition of our study. In the top 25, only Allentown, Pa. scored lower, 36.62.
Our quality of life score is based on the unemployment rate, property crime rate, violent crime rate, average discretionary income and the concentration of dining and entertainment establishments.
The top five Minor League Baseball cities were Round Rock, Tex., Columbus, OH, Nashville, Tenn., Charleston, S.C., and Appleton, Wis.
