7 ways Fishers ranks among the best

Do you like being happy?

Movoto.com, a real estate blog, suggests moving to Fishers and going to concerts, festivals and Conner Prairie.

Are you a Millennnial looking for a place to live in the Indy metro area? Forbes suggests Fishers is the best local city for you.

Looking to raise a family or to retire? Nerdwallet.org and Badcredit.org — a pair of financial websites — think you'd like Fishers.

Like neighboring Carmel, the city of Fishers ranks high on numerous lists that various websites release to drive traffic to their brands.

Related story: 7 ways Carmel ranks among the best

Most of the websites pick cities such as Carmel and Fishers by analyzing data such as age, income and crime. And most of us click on the lists to kill a few minutes online.

Here are some of the accolades Fishers has racked up the past two years:

1. Safest small cities for retirement

What: Badcredit.org ranked Fishers the 11th-best safe small city in which to retire this year. According to the crime statistics collected by the website, you have a 1 percent chance of becoming a victim in Fishers.

2. Happiest suburbs

What: Movoto.com ranked Fishers the second-happiest suburb in 2014. The real estate blog analyzed unemployment, cost of living, violent crimes, commuting time, income, marriage, home ownership, college education and local amenities. In particular, it lauded the Renaissance festival and Conner Prairie.

3. Best places to live in Indiana

What: Movoto.com ranked Fishers the second-best place to live in Indiana in 2014, behind ... gulp ... Carmel. The city ranked ahead of local communities Zionsville (3), Noblesville (4), Westfield (6) and Greenwood (9). For this list, the blog added local taxes, weather, median rent and student-to-teacher ratio to the data it used for the happiest suburb ranking.

4. Best cities and neighborhoods for Millennials

What: Forbes ranked Indianapolis the 22nd-best city in the United States for Millennials in 2014. Within that ranking, Fishers was listed as the best community in the Indy metro area for Millennials. Forbes didn't give much detail about what it liked about Indy or Fishers, other than to note that 14 percent of the people living in the Indy metro region are Millennials, the median area rent is $763 and the median income is $28,664.

5. Best cities for young families

What: Nerdwallet.com ranked Fishers the best city for young families in Indiana in 2014. The website cited good schools and recreational activities — along with a healthy median home value of $209,700.

6. Safest cities

What: Movoto.com ranked Fishers the second-safest suburb in the United States in 2014, behind — yep — Carmel. The website analyzed property crimes and violent crimes from 2013. In Fishers, you have a 1 in 92 chance of being a victim, the website said. In Carmel, it's slightly lower at 1 in 97.

Two people were slain in Fishers in 2014 — the first homicides in nearly two decades.

What: NeighborhoodScout named Fishers the 44th-safest city in the United States in 2014, using much of the same data but including cities of all sizes. Carmel ranked 28th.

7. Best small cities

What: Nerdwallet.com ranked Fishers the fifth-best small city in which to live in the United States in 2014. The website cited affordability and recreational activities. Carmel ranked first on the list because of high income and low poverty.

Call Star reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.