Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities

States

Top 100
Rank	City	Population
98	Waukesha	71,700

Other cities
	Appleton	74,087
	Eau Claire	66,269
	Green Bay	104,722
	Janesville	63,367
	Kenosha	96,950
	La Crosse	51,997
	Madison	231,999
	Milwaukee	604,477
	Oshkosh	66,786
	Racine	82,196
	West Allis	60,051

From the September 2012 issue

Due to erroneous job, cost-of-living, and test score data for a small number of places, two cities were left off this year's top 100 and two were mistakenly included. Other cities moved up or down slightly once all data were corrected. Details.

Best Places Winners

Wisconsin | Top 10 | All 100

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Home price trends

Hover over any of the 10 Best Places below to see how real estate prices have changed in the past year.

City	Avg. listing price (July 2012)
1. Carmel, IN	$304,340
2. McKinney, TX	$245,917
3. Eden Prairie, MN	$413,566
4. Newton, MA	$850,117
5. Redmond, WA	$518,982
6. Irvine, CA	$904,753
7. Reston, VA	$467,934
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD	$406,943
9. Overland Park, KS	$278,204
10. Chapel Hill, NC	$376,660

Homes for sale
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Video

Carmel's $5M ultimate party house

What home is complete without a casino and Star Wars-themed bar? Get an entertaining palace in Carmel, Ind., Money's Best Place to Live. Watch
Irvine's tasty food truck scene

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Homes in Best Places: What $500K buys

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Newton grows veggies - and community

At the Newton Community Farm, locals come together to help harvest, weed - and even rebuild its farmstand after a fire. Watch
Find charming homes, Texas-sized

In 2010, CNNMoney visited McKinney, now No. 2 on Money's 2012 Best Places to Live, and found it's growing fast. Watch
Eden Prairie's 'Minnesota-nice' vibe

In 2010, CNNMoney visited Eden Prairie, now No. 3 on Money's 2012 Best Places to Live, and found residents love the people and open space. Watch

How we picked the Best Places

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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Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities