Money's list of America's best small cities


Biggest earners
Here are towns from the Best Places database with the highest median family income.
Rank City Median 2007 family income
1 New Canaan, CT $231,138
2 Darien, CT $218,130
3 Lake Forest, IL $212,122
4 Saratoga, CA $196,420
5 Westport, CT $193,540
6 Los Altos, CA $189,839
7 Potomac, MD $183,258
8 McLean, VA $180,103
9 Wellesley, MA $172,900
10 University Park, TX $170,150
11 Bethesda, MD $167,043
12 Southlake, TX $166,878
13 Danville, CA $160,560
14 Greenwich, CT $157,232
15 Ridgewood, NJ $153,436
16 Manhattan Beach, CA $151,258
17 La Canada Flintridge, CA $150,985
18 Bloomfield Township, MI $150,969
19 Los Gatos, CA $150,556
20 Wilmette, IL $149,667
21 Lafayette, CA $149,597
22 Dranesville, VA $149,294
23 Deerfield, IL $148,612
24 Highland Park, IL $148,131
25 Garden City, NY $147,804
From the August 2008 issue
Source: Census data, Onboard projection/aggregation
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Top 3

City Median income
New Canaan, CT $231,138
Darien, CT $218,130
Lake Forest, IL $212,122
City % single
Hoboken, NJ 57.7%
Cambridge, MA 52.4%
Somerville, MA 51.4%
City Median home price
Nicholasville, KY $70,000
Watauga, TX $117,040
Redan, GA $115,000
Using statistics from data provider Onboard Informatics and consultant Bert Sperling of BestPlaces.net, 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 7,500 and 50,000.) More

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