Money Magazine names Sherwood one of America's best places to live
The magazine ranked Sherwood 18th in its annual list; Lake Oswego made the list at 32
Anthony Roberts / Sherwood Gazette
The new streets in Old Town Sherwood.
The July issue of Money Magazine names Sherwood as one of the country's best places to live; the city, listed at number 18, is among only two Oregon towns to make the annual list.
The magazine wrote that towns named in the popular yearly list benefit from a combination of “economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a sense of community.” This marks Sherwood’s first appearance on the list, and the city finds itself ahead of neighboring Lake Oswego, which is ranked 32nd. The ranking came as a surprise to city officials.
“It wasn’t something that we were obviously out looking for or applying for,” Assistant City Manager Jim Patterson said.
“Obviously we’re pleased and humbled by it. Those of us that live and work in Sherwood, we’ve long known these things about our community, but to be recognized on a national basis … it’s quite an accomplishment and we’re all very excited about it.”
Patterson said Sherwood likely stood out due to its low crime rates and strong sense of community. The town of 16,000, located about 15 miles southwest of Portland, holds a number of events that draw from surrounding communities, such as this weekend’s Robin Hood Festival and the annual Music on the Green concert series that runs every Wednesday evening during the summer months.
Sherwood’s economy has also grown over the past decade as the population spiked. The town was home to 3,000 as recently as 1990. From 2000 to 2006, Sherwood experienced job growth of 23 percent, compared to 13 percent for the other cities on Money’s list. Sherwood Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Holli Robinson has seen her organization explode during that time.
“Membership is up by 300 percent over the last six or seven years, it’s like we hit the ground and never stopped running,” she said. “Even the big box stores are members here, and they’re not in some communities.”
The job growth figures seem to contradict prevailing opinions that Sherwood is “housing rich, jobs poor,” as economic development consultants labeled it earlier this year. While there has been a spike in employment opportunities since 2000, many of them are low-paying retail jobs at stores like Target, Safeway and Home Depot, which are located along the town’s commercial strips on Highway 99 and Tualatin-Sherwood Road.
The city is in the process of hiring a full-time economic development coordinator to address that problem, and Patterson believes the ranking will help in recruiting candidates, as well as businesses.
“This is just one of those things that we’re going to be able to add to the toolbox, so to speak, in terms of talking about why businesses locally, regionally and across the nation might want to consider looking at Sherwood, Oregon as a place to make their home,” he said.
Sherwood has also overhauled its Old Town over the past three years, setting up an urban renewal district and using the proceeds to build a new city hall and library, and to install new street fixtures. Much of Old Town now features blue lampposts, large monuments on the corners, no curbs and concrete streets with brick inlays at the crosswalks. The city also built a new park, and made improvements to existing parks and facilities.
In addition to this honor, Sherwood was named a finalist in the All-American Cities competition in 2006. This is its first year on the Money Magazine list.
Four Washington cities were named to the list; Sammamish, Camas, Mukilteo and Silverdale. Middleton, Wisconsin garnered the top ranking.
For complete rankings, visit www.money.com.
Frank Lenzi of AM 860 KPAM contributed to this report