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60. St. Peters, MO
St. Peters
Gazebo in Park of St.Peters
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 60
Population: 54,800
Compare St. Peters to Top 10 Best Places
Positioned 30 miles northwest of big-city St. Louis with only 55,000 residents, St. Peters evokes quintessential small-town America. It's the kind of place where neighbors come together by the hundreds in a volunteer effort to help put on the big state swimming and diving meets every year.

And when they're hosted at the award-winning 236,000-square-foot Rec-Plex, who wouldn't want to pitch in? The facility, dramatically expanded in 2007 with Olympic-sized swimming pools and NHL-sized ice rinks, has become the epicenter of St. Peters' active community.

Not feeling fitness-minded? The town's low cost of living means you'll have no problem indulging in one (or all) of its scores of tasty mom and pop restaurants.

Median family income
(per year)		 $81,563 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $91,132 $84,802
Sales tax 7.50% 6.60%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 6.00%I 5.22%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 1.50%I 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,575 $1,854
Job growth %
(2000-2007)		 20.05% 18.60%
Median home price $164,000 $293,712
Average property taxes
(2006)		 $2,221 $4,072
See St. Peters homes for sale
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 25 40
Junior colleges and
technical institutes (within 30 miles)		 20 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 24.0% 17.3%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 20.0% 16.6%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 75.4/24.6 89.5/10.5
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 68.8% 76.0%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 2 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 24 25
Median commute time
(in minutes)		 23.6 23.0
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 13.4% 15.8%
% population walk or bike to work 1.1% 3.0%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 29 51
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 2,157 4,141
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 245 338
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 213 242
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 47 90
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 7 11
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 1 13
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 1.9 1.5
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 38.65 36.31
% clear days in the area 28 30
High temp in July ° F 88.8° 87.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 18.9° 22.9°
Has health plan
(% of residents)		 92.5% 88.2%
Body mass index (avg. for residents) 27 27
Diabetes rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 7.1% 9.6%
Hypertension rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 30.3% 27.3%
Median age 36.2 36.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 67.2% 73.6%
Married 61.6% 57.5%
Divorced 9.5% 8.3%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 27.6 104.0
Amount spent on vacations
(domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)		 $8,238 $8,012
From the August 2008 issue
Notes:
* County data
** State data

(I) Income tax notes:
Deduction is limited to $10,000 for joint returns and $5,000 for individuals in Missouri and to $5,000 in Oregon.
See St. Peters in...
...What Readers Say
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On Board LLC
Information powered by Onboard Informatics
Some data may be provided courtesy of its partners.
Sperling's Best Places
Additional data and consulting services provided by Bert Sperling's bestplaces.net.
Homes For Sale
Homes for sale provided by Trulia Real Estate Search.
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2007 median sales prices
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