The Southern Pines-Pinehurst area has once again received national accolades as one of the nation's most desirable places to live.

Following on the heels of independent research firm POLICOM's recent 2008 ranking of the area as 27th in Economic Strength out of 577 micropolitan areas in the United States, American City Business Journals (ACBJ) has ranked Southern Pines-Pinehurst as the No. 2 best "Dreamtown" in North Carolina and the 35th best in the nation out of 140 smaller communities evaluated throughout the United States.

ACBJ is the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the United States. The company manages 41 papers, including Triangle Business Journal covering the Raleigh-Durham area, in addition to several magazines.

ACBJ's study looked at communities with populations of more than 10,000, but less than 50,000 to identify the nation's most attractive areas based on quality of life criteria. It gave the highest scores to those with less traffic congestion, solid economies, moderate costs of living, strong educational systems, and easy access to the offerings and attractions of metropolitan areas.

"Moore County is fortunate to have all of those attributes, in addition to exceptional healthcare, low property taxes, low crime, and a wide variety of local cultural and recreational opportunities", said Ray Ogden, Executive Director of Moore County Partners in Progress, the economic development organization serving all of Moore County. "From an economic development standpoint, we've found that the businesses and industries we target for recruitment often rate an area's 'livability' as even more important than incentives, workforce, or other needs."