It's been 22 years since Pittsburgh shocked the world with its #1 rating in the 1985 "Places Rated Almanac." Now, the 25th anniversary edition of Places Rated has returned Pittsburgh to the top spot in its latest rating of America's most livable cities. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the guide ranks 379 U.S. metropolitan areas in nine categories: housing, transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation, and ambience. Rounding out the top 10 behind Pittsburgh are San Francisco; Seattle; Portland, OR; Philadelphia; Rochester, NY; Washington D.C.; San Jose-Sunnyvale, CA; Boston and Madison, Wis.

What Pittsburgh doesn't do is top the list in any category. What it does do is perform pretty well in all of them. That's probably why the city has been listed among the top 20 most liveable places in every edition of the almanac.

In 1985, when Pittsburgh was first ranked #1 in the Places Rated Almanac, the New York Times sent a reporter out to investigate the fuss: "With its breathtaking skyline, its scenic waterfront, its cozily vibrant downtown, its rich mixture of cultural amenities, its warm neighborhoods and its scrubbed-clean skies, it no longer is the smoky, smelly, gritty milltown of yesteryear," he wrote back.

I first came to the city in 1987, and that's the impression I got then too. Twenty years later I still live here and love it.