Grand Forks Repeats as America's Best Hockey Town

For the second straight year, SmartAsset.com has named Grand Forks as America's best hockey town.

Not only is this Grand Forks' second straight year as America's best hockey town, but it's also SmartAsset.com's second year making the list. That means Grand Forks is the only city that has taken the top spot on SmartAsset.com's list.

So, what sorts of things to SmartAsset.com look at to put together their list? Why don't we let them tell you:

To find America’s best hockey towns, SmartAsset looked at data on fan intensity and quality of life in 123 U.S. cities or towns that are home to NHL, AHL, ECHL or NCAA Division I hockey teams. We considered such metrics as the average attendance at hockey games and the amount of search traffic for the term “hockey” to gauge fan intensity.
We looked at factors like the median income, the unemployment rate and the violent crime rate to reflect each town’s quality of life.

With the University of North Dakota's men's and women's hockey team as successful as they are, it's no wonder Grand Forks landed the top spot (again):

It’s a good time to be a hockey fan in Grand Forks. The recently-renamed Fighting Hawks men’s hockey team have made it to back-to-back Frozen Fours and as of this writing are ranked second in the country in both national college hockey polls. The UND women’s team likewise rates among the best in the country, landing at 8th and 9th in the two current polls.
So far this season, the men’s team has averaged more than 11,000 in home-game attendance, which equals a sell out for every game. The town rated first for hockey fan intensity, scoring a perfect 100.
But the good news doesn’t end there. Grand Forks also rated as the top town for its overall quality of life. It has an unemployment rate of just 1.9% (as of November 2015), the lowest rate of any town in SmartAsset’s study. Likewise, it rates in the top 25 of all U.S. hockey towns for its low housing costs and high concentration of dining and entertainment establishments.

The state of Minnesota had three cities in SmartAsset.com's top ten. Michigan also had three.

Here's SmartAsset.com's complete list of America's best hockey towns: