Money's list of America's best small towns


53 of 100
BACKNEXT
53. Mount Airy, MD
Mount Airy
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 53
Population: 8,800
Compare Mount Airy to Top 10 Best Places
This town was once an important stop on the railway between Baltimore and Franklin that carried soldiers during the Civil War. Today Mount Airy is a bedroom community for residents working along the same city corridor.

Economically, the town benefits from its proximity to those cities, and there are many thriving businesses in the area -- so unemployment is relatively low.

Housing prices, however, have dropped some 20% since the peak of the housing bubble. --R.G.

Become a fan on facebookBecome a Facebook fan of Money's Best Places to Live
Is Mount Airy a great town, or what?
Mount Airy stats
Median family income
(per year)		 $100,743 $97,441
Job growth %
(2000-2008)*		 23.36% 19.58%
See jobs near Mount Airy
Median home price $337,0001 $262,148
See Mount Airy homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 16.4% 25.6%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 21.4% 28.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 163 19
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 828 1,923
High temp in July ° F* 86.8° 85.5°
Low temp in Jan ° F* 22.4° 21.0°
Median age 34.1 36.6
Median family income
(per year)		 $100,743 $97,441
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $82,576 $95,041
State sales tax 6.00% 5.63%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 6.25%I 6.06%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.00%I 3.07%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $2,217 $1,744
Job growth %
(2000-2008)*		 23.36% 19.58%
See jobs near Mount Airy
Median home price $337,0001 $262,148
Average property taxes
(2007)		 $2,741 $3,853
See Mount Airy homes for sale
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 28 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 16.4% 25.6%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 21.4% 28.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 100.0/0.0 90.1/9.9
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 79.0% 78.6%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 163 19
Median commute time (in minutes) 33.1 22.5
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 34.4% 13.8%
% population walk or bike to work 1.0% 2.3%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 9 24
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 828 1,923
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 23 174
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 170 148
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 16 53
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 8 7
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 8 17
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 2.5 1.2
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 43.28 39.77
% clear days in the area 29 27
High temp in July ° F* 86.8° 85.5°
Low temp in Jan ° F* 22.4° 21.0°
Median age 34.1 36.6
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 58.8% 71.9%
Married % 67.8% 62.9%
Divorced % 6.1% 7.7%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 33.2 58.9
From the August 2009 issue
Notes:
* County data
(1) Median based on fewer than 100 home sales in the area.
(3) Crime incidences are estimates based on FBI 2007 Universal Crime and incidence reports, OnBoard analysis.

(I) Income tax notes:
Some states effectively double the bracket widths for joint filers (AL, AZ, CT, HI, ID, KS, LA, ME, NE, NY, OR). CA doubles all bracket widths except the $1,000,000 bracket. Some states increase, but don't double, all or some bracket widths for joint filers (GA, MN, NM, NC, ND, OK, RI, VT, WI). Some states do not adjust their brackets for joint filers (AR, DE, IA, KY, MS, MO, MT, OH, SC, VA, WV, DC). Of these states, some permit married couples to file separately to avoid a marriage penalty, and some allow joint filers to make an adjustment to reduce their tax after it is calculated. MD decreases some of its bracket widths and increases others. NJ adds a 2.45% rate and doubles some bracket widths.
The standard deduction is 15% of income with a minimum of $1,500 and a cap of $2,000 for single filers, married filing separately filers and dependent filers earning more than $13,333. The standard deduction is capped at $4,000 for married filing jointly filers, head of households filers and qualifying widowers earning more than $26,667.
Local rates are excluded; 14 states have county or city level income taxes. In each of these states the average rate for all counties and cities, weighted by total personal income within each jurisdiction, is: 0.19% in Ala.; 0.06% in Ark.; 0.16% in Del.; 1.16% in Ind.; 0.3% in Iowa.; 0.76% in Ky.; 2.98% in Md.; 0.44% in Mich.; 0.12% in Mo.; 0.09% in N.J.; 1.7% in N.Y.; 1.82% in Ohio; 0.36% in Ore.; and 1.25% in Pa.
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: © 2013 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 © 2013 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. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.
© 2013 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy. Ad choices .