Awards & Recognitions - City of Kennesaw

2020

Awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 20th consecutive year.
The Frank Boone Dog Park at Swift-Cantrell Park was named Best of Cobb by Cobb Life Magazine.
Smith-Gilbert Gardens was listed #3 on Kids Out and About‘s List of the Top 20 Place to Take Kids in and around Atlanta.
The Kennesaw Police Department was awarded the Kennesaw Business Association Community Citizen Award in recognition and celebration of their outstanding dedication and service to the Kennesaw Community.
The City of Kennesaw was named number six on the National Council for Home Safety and Security’s 2020 Safest Cities in Georgia list. To identify the safest cities in Georgia, the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics are reviewed. A total of 3,381 cities were factored into this ranking.
The City of Kennesaw was recognized as one of the Most Budget-Friendly Georgia Cities for Homeowners With a Mortgage and one of the Most Budget-Friendly Georgia Cities for Renters. After analyzing both the median income and average mortgage and rent costs for more than 25,000 U.S. cities, LendEDU recognized those cities that are the most budget-friendly places for both homeowners and renters, and Kennesaw was ranked in the top 25 in the State of Georgia for both categories! Kennesaw had a total of 17,476 houses with a mortgage, and only 4,333 of those houses had a mortgage that costs 30% or more of the household income, or 24.79%. Kennesaw had a median household income of $77,603 and had an average annual rent cost of $15,348 for a rent-to-income ratio of 19.78%.

2019

Awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 19th consecutive year.
The City of Kennesaw was ranked in the Top 20 for the 2019 Best Suburbs to Live in Georgia by Niche. This list provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall livability of the area, taking into consideration location, quality of schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities.
Chamber of Commerce listed the City of Kennesaw fourth on their Best Cities to Live in Georgia list. Chamber of Commerce considered a total of 2,509 qualified cities in Georgia based on employment, housing, quality of life, education and health.
A study from WalletHub listed the City of Kennesaw in the eightieth percentile as one of the Best Small Cities in America. WalletHub compared over 1,200 cities in the United States with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on key factors of livability.
The City of Kennesaw was named to SafeWise’s list of Georgia’s 50 Safest Cities of 2019.
Kennesaw was named to Trips to Discover’s list of the 10 Best Neighborhoods to See Christmas Lights in Atlanta!

2018

Welcomemat Services has named the City of Kennesaw as No. 19 on their 2018 list of America’s Top 25 Best Neighborhoods for Small Business.
The Kennesaw Grand Prix Series was awarded the Spot-On Award by Cobb Travel & Tourism for Event of the Year.
The City of Kennesaw was ranked 88th on WalletHub’s list of Best Small Cities in America. The report from WalletHub features 1,200 U.S. cities with populations under 100,000.

2017

SafeHome.org has ranked the City of Kennesaw No. 4 on their 2017 list of the Safest Cities in Georgia. They used a variety of data sources and combination of the FBI’s latest report of how many and what types of crimes occurred, crime trends and other data points like law enforcement officer ratio, demographics, population density, unemployment rate, income, education level, etc. to come up with the scoring.
The team at website ElitePersonalFinance.com recently conducted a study on the best places to live in the US. When deciding on them, they took into account certain criteria: safety, economic growth, education and cultural scene. To rank cities, they use only the latest legitimate sources like FTC, FBI and so on. For 2017, the site includes Kennesaw in the top 5 places to live in the US.
SafeWise.com, a website offering home security and safety advice, has published its list of the 50 safest cities in Georgia. They reviewed the most recent FBI Crime Report statistics from 2015, along with population data, then narrowed it down based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city. Kennesaw placed #13 and was best in Cobb County.
Smith-Gilbert Gardens was again named Best Place to Spend the Day Outdoors by Cobb Life Magazine’s annual poll of readers. Cobb Life is a subsidiary of the Marietta Daily Journal.

2016

Smith-Gilbert Gardens was recognized with the 2016 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, reflecting the consistently great reviews which have been submitted to the world’s largest travel site.
Personal finance website WalletHub which produces research reports and surveys ranking “best” and “worst” on varying topics, ranked the nation’s best small cities (the 1,268 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000) across five key dimensions: 1) Affordability, 2) Economic Health, 3) Education & Health, 4) Quality of Life and 5) Safety. Then overall scores were calculated based on the weighted average of 30 relevant metrics. Cities were grouped in percentiles, so a 90th percentile represents the top 10% percent of small cities in America. Kennesaw ranked in the 91st percentile and was the highest ranked small city in Georgia!
WalletHub also recently crunched the data to determine which among 100 of the Georgia’s cities meet their criteria for “most conducive to family life.” Kennesaw was named 2016’s 15th Best Place to Raise a Family in Georgia and was the highest ranked city in Cobb County. Of particular note was the low unemployment rate, affordability of housing, and low crime rate.
CreditDonkey analyzed crime trends for cities large and small across Georgia to find the ones where crime occurred least often. Using their methodology, Kennesaw was rated among the top 20 safest cities, cited for its exceptional reputation for safety and determination to control crime.
The website BestPlacesNow.com, which names “the top ten everything, everywhere,” has recently chosen Kennesaw at the top of its list of best places to live in Georgia. The site touts Kennesaw’s extremely low crime rate, low unemployment, many local amenities, and a high quality of life rating.
A ranking of the safest cities in Georgia from backgroundchecks.org has Kennesaw at number six. The ranking uses FBI violent crime statistics and other data according to the site, a public safety focused organization. Additionally, ValuePenguin team analyzed 99 cities with populations of more than 5,000 to determine the safest cities in Georgia. Kennesaw ranked fourth safest in the list of cities with populations over 25,000 and 12th overall. It was the only Cobb County city in the top 25.
The website Zippia.com examined census data measuring the percentage of adults with at least a high school diploma and percentage of teenagers that are high school dropouts to determine the smartest places in Georgia. In a list of 127 cities in the state with a population of at least 5,000, Kennesaw was deemed to be the 4th Smartest City in Georgia.
Website niche.com rates Kennesaw number eight in its Best Suburbs for Millennials in Atlanta metro list. Niche ranks suburban communities on the number of millennials, job opportunities, restaurants, access to bars, and affordable housing. A high ranking indicates that a suburb attracts millennials with an affordable, diverse community and lots of things to do.
For the eighth year, Kennesaw was honored by the Arbor Day Foundation for being one of Georgia’s “Tree City USA” communities. More than 3,400 communities nationwide have made the commitment to becoming a Tree City USA by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.
Kennesaw’s Big Shanty Festival was named Best Festival in the January 26 edition of Cobb Life Magazine, a subsidiary of the Marietta Daily Journal. Each year, newspaper readers are asked to vote in 24 categories. Cobb Life also recognized Smith-Gilbert Gardens which was voted “Best Place to Spend the Day Outdoors.”
The National Association for Business Resources has named the City of Kennesaw in its 2015 list of the Best and Brightest in Wellness® companies in the nation. This program annually honors companies and organizations that recognize and celebrate quality and excellence in employee and worksite health. Other winners include the American Academy of Pediatrics, CVS Health, NASA Exchange Johnson Space Center, Quicken Loans, and the City of Houston.
Atlanta Parent Magazine asked readers to vote for their favorite places to spend time with children in its annual poll, “Best of Family Fun.” Smith-Gilbert Gardens was selected as one of the three best gardens in the metro. Mentioned were hearing a garden story, taking a Young Chefs class, or becoming a Young Explorer.
Website safewise.com annually names the safest cities in every state by analyzing the most recent FBI Crime Report data of cities with 4,000 or more residents in 2013. Kennesaw ranks 11th of the 100 cities in the rankings and was the only Cobb County municipality in the top 20. Last year, the city ranked #13.