Money's list of America's best small cities


Cleanest air
In these cities, the air quality is rated highly, and pollution levels are below the U.S. average.
Rank City Air quality index
(% days AQI
ranked good)		 Air Pollution Index
(100 is nat'l avg;
lower is better)
1 Richmond, VA 100.0% 94
2 Lake Havasu City, CA 100.0% 98
3 Novato, CA 99.0% 85
4 San Rafael, CA 99.0% 85
5 Ames, IA 99.0% 91
6 Bismarck, ND 99.0% 94
7 Lincoln, NE 98.0% 75
8 Honolulu, HI 98.0% 80
9 Bradenton, FL 98.0% 95
10 Cheyenne, WY 98.0% 98
11 Petaluma, CA 98.0% 86
12 Santa Rosa, CA 98.0% 86
13 Schenectady, NY 97.0% 84
14 Centennial, CO 97.0% 95
15 Aurora, CO 97.0% 96
16 Shawnee, KS 97.0% 96
17 Port St. Lucie, FL 96.0% 86
18 Daytona Beach, FL 96.0% 77
19 Port Orange, FL 96.0% 77
20 Deltona, FL 96.0% 87
21 Victoria, TX 96.0% 88
22 Santa Cruz, CA 96.0% 80
23 Salinas, CA 96.0% 82
24 Watsonville, CA 96.0% 83
25 Champaign, IL 96.0% 85
From the September 2012 issue
Source: AQI numbers from Environmental Protection Agency. Air Pollution Index is based on the incidence of airborne lead, NO2, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and ozone depletion.
Best Places Winners
MAPS
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

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Video
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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