I love it when publications outside of Western New York give Buffalo a pat on back. This week, Newsweek handed out a little Buffalove in its list of America’s 20 Can-Do Capitals, with Buffalo landing at no. 9 in the rankings.

The Queen City beat out some stiff competition—among which were the 200 largest metropolitan regions in the nation. How’d we do it? As the Newseek article explains, cities were rated based on a few criteria: sustainability, livability, transportation and infrastructure, and business development. Cities received a score from one to 25 for each of the four categories, totaling a possible 100 points. And then, the cities were ranked.

Here’s how Buffalo’s score played out:

Sustainability: 11.60
Livability: 13.75
Transportation and Infrastructure: 23.64
Business Development: 11.45

Final Score: 60.43

The Newsweek list doesn’t say why Buffalo received the points it did, but I’m not complaining.

The top-ranked can-do city was El Paso, Texas, followed by Oakland, Calif.; Riverside, Calif.; San Antonio, Texas; Omaha, Neb.; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Buffalo; and Austin, Texas.

Our fellow media neighbors from Buffalo Rising posted a neat little writeup about the ranking. I particularly liked that the writer gave some background info on the photo in the Newsweek post, which shows the owner of Betty’s, a popular restaurant on the city’s west side, standing behind the counter. The photographer shot the image through a window adorned with a Buffalo First! sticker. Clever. And a very telling photograph.

Photo courtesy of Flickr / grilled cheese