{"id":447371,"date":"2026-08-29T16:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T16:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447371\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T16:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T16:46:30","slug":"fresno-stereotypes-vs-reality-what-the-rankings-miss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447371\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno stereotypes vs. reality: What the rankings miss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Flip the Script is a Bee series that challenges negative stereotypes, with the help of readers, by highlighting Fresno’s remarkable assets and culture. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fresno keeps landing on unflattering national lists. The latest: A real estate company\u2019s ranking of the city as the 36th least desirable city, of the nation\u2019s 50 largest. The ranking said we were one of the most boring and least friendly cities, with more low marks for our scenery.<\/p>\n

Does not really make sense. A closer look at the city\u2019s culture, economy and residents tells a very different story. From award-winning poets to booming millennial homeownership, here\u2019s the case for looking past the clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

Even in Clever Real Estate\u2019s 2026 ranking this week that placed Fresno 36th among the least desirable U.S. cities, local realtors pushed back, noting the city is centrally located, culturally diverse and offers \u201csignificantly more home for your money\u201d than other California metros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are key takeaways \"Hikers Hikers crowd together to get a view of Vernal Fall on Yosemite National Park\u2019s Mist Trail on a busy Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 23, 2026. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Food Culture: Fresno punches well above its weight, with the Taco Truck Throwdown drawing more than 10,000 people and 25 trucks, and Dog House Grill smoking 400 to 700 cuts of tri-tip a day \u2014 signature dishes that give the city a distinct culinary identity<\/a>.Home Values: Millennial homeownership in Fresno surged 104% between 2018 and 2023, growing from 24,384 to 49,742 households and ranking the city 12th nationally for millennial homebuying growth<\/a>, driven by an average home value of $390,993 and strong income growth.Yosemite\u2019s Front Porch: Fresno sits at the southern Sierra\u2019s front doorstep<\/a>, offering a convenient launch point for Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Yosemite lies roughly 60 miles north, while the neighboring giant-sequoia parks stretch east toward the mountains.Writers Abound: Fresno is home to a disproportionately large group of nationally acclaimed writers, including former U.S. poet laureates Philip Levine and Juan Felipe Herrera, with one Fresno State history professor calling the city \u201ca cultural hotbed\u201d overshadowed by San Francisco and Los Angeles<\/a>.Expanding Economy: The city\u2019s economy is expanding through new restaurants, retail and wellness businesses, and Fresno Yosemite International Airport opened a new passenger security checkpoint in April 2025 as part of a $150 million expansion project<\/a>.Literary Scene: Fresno\u2019s literary community has \u201cexpanded exponentially\u201d over the past 25 years, with independent bookstores, the annual LitHop festival and the San Joaquin Valley Bookfest \u2014 which drew about 800 people this year \u2014 creating new space for writers of color, women writers and queer writers<\/a>.Big Small Town: Longtime residents describe a community that pulls people in \u2014 photographer Steve Skibbie arrived from Oregon in 1987 planning a short stay and is still there nearly 40 years later, telling The Bee that newcomers \u201cget sucked into the community\u201d<\/a>.Retirement Destination: Fresno ranked No. 4 on U.S. News & World Report\u2019s list of the top places to retire in California, with a median monthly rent of $1,098 and easy access to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, according to the 2025 retirement rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Original stories by Gagandeep Singh, Erik Galicia, Joshua Tehee, B.J. Anteola and Edward Simon Cruz.<\/p>\n

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media\u2019s AI policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published August 28, 2026 at 2:09 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flip the Script is a Bee series that challenges negative stereotypes, with the help of readers, by highlighting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-447371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}