There’s no place like home — especially if home happens to be in Lawrence, according to Men’s Journal magazine.

Lawrence drew the magazine’s attention in an article in its May issue that rates “The 50 Best Places To Live.” Lawrence occupies the No. 10 spot.

The magazine chose cities it concluded had all the amenities of a big city “without having to sit in traffic all morning” while maintaining the “familiarity of a small town.”

Andy Faucett, who moved to Lawrence in 1996, likes Lawrence for some of those same reasons.

“What I like about Lawrence is it is very low-friction,” the 37-year-old said. “I like the pace, but there’s always something going on, especially up on (the Kansas University) campus.”

Men’s Journal limited its picks to cities with populations between 50,000 and 100,000. It also took into consideration quality-of-life factors such as the environment, cost of living, the number of bars and bookstores.

The magazine also noted that people like author William S. Burroughs, who lived in such cities as New York, Chicago, Paris and Mexico City, settled in Lawrence because of “clean, midwestern living.”

The May issue of Men's Journal includes Lawrence in its list of the 50 best places to live in America. Lawrence ranks 10th and is listed as one of America's most educated cities.

It also points out that Lawrence is one of the most educated cities in America, home to KU and Allen Press, one of the foremost printers of academic journals. Then, of course, there’s KU basketball and its inventor, James Naismith, it says.

Five years ago Beverly Swimmer-Gutierrez wanted to move off the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. She said she basically got out a map, started looking and picked Lawrence. The presence of Haskell Indian Nations University also was a factor, she said. She has two children who are now students at Haskell.

“I like both Haskell and KU — I worked at KU,” Swimmer-Gutierrez said. “There are a lot of Native Americans here, and there are a lot of foreign students here. I like the diversity of people.”

Swimmer-Gutierrez also likes the easy pace of life in Lawrence and enjoys walking down Massachusetts Street and sitting in the parks.

The Men’s Journal ratings placed Lawrence between No. 9 College Station, Texas, and No. 11 Davis, Calif. Boulder, Colo., was listed as the No. 1 place to live. Duluth, Minn., was ranked at No. 50.

¢Men’s Journal