The real estate investing industry uses "Classes" to rank property performance risk, but there's NO agreed upon industry model:(Here's what we use for our Metro Detroit market:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

It’s the same sense of pride I felt climbing the ranks as a Marine pilot.

I just read a new ranking of market ratings and I was not a fan seeing MN ranked 99.9 out of 100 potential score.

They have been ranked, yet again In INC Magazine on its annual Inc. 5000 list.

As for what you are missing: Case Shiller ranking of top residential buy n hold cities for this century had the top 3 spots all being CA cities. 

Right now I use school ranking as a means of inferring neighborhood quality.

So this is for guest satisfaction and not ranking or increasing bookings?  

It's SEO for your website so you rank high when sellers search for a particular set of terms.

This market is also appreciating with people moving from the coastal states out here, there's a reason Phoenix always ranks in the top 5 best places to invest year over year. 

Appreciation virtually always results in rent appreciation which results in increased cash flow.Case shiller used to publish a ranking of large cities based on total residential return since the year 2000.