Money magazine released its annual “Top 100 Best Places to Live in America” last month and, in case you missed it, decided Fort Collins deserved no better than the 70th spot.

Six short years ago, the city ranked No. 1 on the same list.

In 2010, the Fort earned the No. 6 spot. Last year, we didn’t even make the top 100.

So what happened to knock us down so far in the rankings?

Did crime skyrocket? Or school scores plummet? Or, gasp, did New Belgium pack up and leave?

The Eye decided to look into it.

Since 2006, crime has stayed relatively level and the city’s schools still test above average in both math and language. In fact, most of the city’s quality of life stats have stayed fairly flat, if not improved on the scale Money uses. And after some investigating, the Eye can happily confirm New Belgium is still here.

One of our go-to economists, John Green, suggested that perhaps the lack of rainfall and higher temperatures this year contributed to our decline. But then the Eye looked twice and noted that Castlerock, Colo. – in a relatively similar climate but dare-we-say much less vibrant city — earned the 16th spot.