Study: Vegas jumps 23 spots to rank No. 6 among ‘wired cities’

Kevin Ferguson

Monday, March 12, 2001 | 11:22 a.m.

Las Vegas jumped 23 spots compared to last year to be ranked sixth among the nation's most "wired cities," according to the annual ranking by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.

The ranking was based on six statistical categories, including the number of households online, the number of Web surfers who shop online and the amount of content offered on local government sites.

"Vegas ranked first in the government content category, which wasn't surprising because it's such a tourist destination," said Don Willmott, the magazine's technology editor.

Several government agencies like the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority have websites with tourist information.

Willmott noted that Sunbelt cities did very well in the ranking because they are experiencing population growth and when people move into new homes they tend to get wired.

Las Vegas has been among the nation's fastest growing metropolises for the past decade. Henderson has been the fastest growing mid-size city for that period.

California had four of the top 10 cities in the wired cities ranking, not surprisingly led by Silicon Valley's San Jose and San Francisco. Another three Golden State cities made the top 20.

San Jose's ranking above San Francisco was partly because San Jose residents shopped more online and owned a greater share of domain names, the survey said.

The research was conducted before power shortages plagued California in recent months. Willmott noted the study "assumed a steady supply of electricity would be available at all time."

The study appears in the April issue of Yahoo! Internet Life, which appears on newsstands March 20. The magazine is published under license from the online portal, but its editorial offices are separate.

Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass., provided the data on the percentage of households online, the proportion having high-speed connections and the amount of online spending.

Las Vegas ranked sixth in households having or planning to get speedy Web access, with 53.7 percent among those locally polled, Willmott said.

A researcher at the University of California at Berkeley conducted the analysis on domain name ownership as a measure of business Web presence.

Yahoo's online directory was used to measure content devoted to specific cities, while the magazine's editors reviewed the quality of sites for local government services.

The top 20 finishers were: San Jose, 33.3 points (out of 40); San Francisco, 32.5; Austin-San Marcos, Texas, 29.1; Washington, D.C., 28.1; Orange County, 26.6; Las Vegas, 26.0; Oxnard-Ventura, 25.7; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C., 24.9; Seattle, 24.6; Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, N.J., 24.4;

New York, 24.3; Boston, 24.2; San Diego, 24.1; Oakland, 23.5; Atlanta, 22.9; Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz., 22.9; Dallas, 22.5; Los Angeles-Long Beach, 22.3; Minneapolis-St. Paul., Minn., 22.3; Bergen-Passaic, N.J., 21.8.

Scores are relative, meaning a city scoring 40 is twice as wired as one scoring 20.

The Associated Press

contributed to this report.