Big cities
City Population
New York, NY 8,274,500
Los Angeles, CA 3,834,300
Chicago, IL 2,836,700
Houston, TX 2,208,200
Phoenix, AZ 1,552,300
Philadelphia, PA 1,449,600
San Antonio, TX 1,329,000
San Diego, CA 1,266,700
Dallas, TX 1,240,500
San Jose, CA 939,900
Detroit, MI 917,000
Jacksonville, FL 805,600
Indianapolis, IN 795,500
San Francisco, CA 765,000
Columbus, OH 747,800
Austin, TX 743,100
Fort Worth, TX 681,800
Memphis, TN 674,000
Charlotte, NC 671,600
Baltimore, MD 637,500
El Paso, TX 606,900
Milwaukee, WI 602,200
Boston, MA 599,400
Seattle, WA 594,200
Nashville-Davidson, TN 590,800
Denver, CO 588,300
Washington, DC 588,300
Las Vegas, NV 558,900
Portland, OR 550,400
Oklahoma City, OK 547,300
Tucson, AZ 525,500
Atlanta, GA 519,100
Albuquerque, NM 518,300
Fresno, CA 470,500
Long Beach, CA 466,500
Sacramento, CA 460,200
Mesa, AZ 452,900
Kansas City, MO 450,400
Cleveland, OH 438,000
Virginia Beach, VA 434,700
Omaha, NE 424,500
Miami, FL 409,700
Oakland, CA 401,500
Tulsa, OK 384,000
Minneapolis, MN 377,400
Colorado Springs, CO 376,400
Raleigh, NC 375,800
Honolulu, HI 375,600
Arlington, TX 371,000
Wichita, KS 361,400
St. Louis, MO 350,800
Santa Ana, CA 339,600
Tampa, FL 336,800
Anaheim, CA 333,200
Cincinnati, OH 332,500
Bakersfield, CA 315,800
Aurora, CO 311,800
Pittsburgh, PA 311,200
From the August 2009 issue
CNNMoney's Best Places database of 1,800-plus U.S. cities includes towns with populations 8,500 to 50,000 with satisfactory education and crime scores, where income is below 200% of the state median, and that are no more than 95% white – as well as cities with populations 90,000 and up.
Best Places Winners
MAPS
Show: Top 10 | All 100
Pick a state

4
0
0
1
3
2
6
0
0
2
3
0
0
3
2
3
1
0
0
0
2
6
5
4
1
4
0
3
0
4
3
0
0
1
1
6
1
2
2
2
0
0
0
6
4
0
3
5
0
5
0
Help your town win!
Money picked the top 100. Now it’s your turn: Which town will be our fan favorite? Become a fan of your town and it might just make it to No. 1. Results updated monthly.
Town Become a fan # of fans
1. Louisville, CO Become a fan on facebook Add me! 4,256
2. Chanhassen, MN Become a fan on facebook Add me! 2,410
3. Papillion, NE Become a fan on facebook Add me! 1,581
4. Middleton, WI Become a fan on facebook Add me! 1,481
5. Milton, MA Become a fan on facebook Add me! 1,425
See the rest
  • Find Homes for sale
    Real estate and homes for sale on Trulia

  • Property Type
  • Find a home in:
  • New York | Atlanta | Chicago | Los Angeles
  • Washington D.C | Houston | Philadelphia | More options
Video
Is your town a great place to live?
ireportDoes your city have nice cafes, great culture, friendly neighbors? A real-estate market that defied the downturn? Send your photos and videos and show us why. More
Data partners
ireport
Information powered by Onboard Informatics
Some data may be provided courtesy of its partners.
ireport
Homes for sale provided by Trulia Real Estate Search.

How we picked the Best Places
Using statistics from data provider Onboard Informatics, we crunched the numbers in order to zero in on America's best small towns for families. (Last year, we looked at small cities, with populations between 50,000 and 300,000.) More

Comments? E-mail the editors
Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
© 2012 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Ad choices .