Money's list of America's best small cities


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41. Diamond Bar, CA
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Diamond Bar
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 41
Population: 57,200
Compare Diamond Bar to Top 10 Best Places
The residents of Diamond Bar take pride in their homes. Witness the annual Holiday Home Decorating Contest, in which neighbors vie to be deemed the one with the best holiday spirit, best lawn display, or most energy-efficient decorations. Not that community spirit is lacking. Locals boast of their first-ever dog park (Bark Park) and relocated library. What's not so hot? High taxes, and long commutes to Los Angeles. --L.G.
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Diamond Bar stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)
$101,616 $96,825
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*
-1.75% 25.01%
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Median home price $400,000 $269,768
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Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)
42.8% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)
24.4% 29.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 14 20
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)
7,800 3,134
High temp in July ° F 88.7° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 41.5° 18.4°
Median age 33.2 35.2
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)
$101,616 $96,825
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)
$86,703 $93,218
State sales tax 7.25% 5.57%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)
9.30%I 7.31%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)
1.00%I 3.08%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)
$1,991 $1,596
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*
-1.75% 25.01%
See jobs near Diamond Bar
Housing
Median home price $400,000 $269,768
Average property taxes
(2010)
$4,100 $6,517
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Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)
64 8
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)
42.8% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)
24.4% 29.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)
95.1/4.9 91.5/8.5
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)
28.4% 77.3%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 14 20
Median commute time (in minutes) 30.8 22.2
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer
32.1% 14.9%
% population walk or bike to work 0.8% 3.2%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)
63 33
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)
7,800 3,134
Bars
(within 15 miles)
273 199
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)
234 169
Libraries
(within 15 miles)
95 70
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)
18 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 4 6
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.2 1.4
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)
16.96 34.21
% clear days in the area 44 32
High temp in July ° F 88.7° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 41.5° 18.4°
Median age 33.2 35.2
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)
73.8% 72.6%
Married % 58.8% 57.9%
Divorced % 6.7% 8.0%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)
634.8 118.4
From the September 2012 issue
Notes: *County data

Due to an error by our data provider, an earlier version listed incorrect stats for this city's number of colleges.
Places that score above 450 on the racial diversity index aren't necessarily diverse; rather, there may be a large population of one specific ethnic group. i.e. Hawaii has a very high racial diversity score because it has a high concentration of Pacific Islanders.


(I) Income tax notes:
17 states have statutory provision for automatically adjusting to the rate of inflation the dollar values of the income tax brackets, standard deductions, and/or personal exemptions. Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska index the personal exemption only. Oregon does not index the income brackets for $125,000 and over. Because the inflation adjustments for 2012 are not yet available in some cases, the table may report the 2011 amounts.
For joint returns, taxes are twice the tax on half the couple’s income.
The personal exemption takes the form of a tax credit instead of a deduction.
California imposes an additional 1% tax on taxable income over $1 million, making the maximum rate 10.3% over $1 million.

(II) Sales tax notes:
California (1%) and Virginia (1%) levy mandatory, statewide add-on sales taxes at the local level; these are included in their state sales tax rates.
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Using statistics from data services company Onboard Informatics, we crunched the numbers in order to zero in on America's best small cities for families. (Last year, we looked at small towns, with populations between 8,500 and 50,000.) More

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