Money Magazine: Best places to retire 2006: Palo Alto, CA snapshot

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Winners

Palo Alto, CA Population: 57,223 Population, age 50+: 21,181 Population growth, age 50+: 9.28%
Taxes
	City stats
State income tax rate (highest bracket)	9.30%^*
State income tax rate (lowest bracket)	1.00%^*
Retirement tax break from state?	No
State property taxes	Average
Sales tax	8.25%
State gas tax (cents per gallon)	18.0
Housing
	City stats
Median home price	$929,000
Home price gain (2004-2005)	11.30%
Financial
	City stats
Median household income (per year)	$101,584
Auto insurance premiums (Average for the state)	$2,186
Quality of life
	City stats
Air quality index (% of days AQI ranked as good)	81.1%
Personal crime risk (100 is nat'l average; lower is better)	45
Property crime risk (100 is nat'l average; lower is better)	74
Personal crime incidents (per 100,000)	154
Property crime incidents (per 100,000)	3,363
Leisure and culture
	City stats
Movie theaters (within 15 miles)	24
Restaurants (within 15 miles)	4,031
Bars (within 15 miles)	155
Public golf courses (within 30 miles)	74
Libraries (within 15 miles)	64
Museums (accredited by AAM within 30 miles)	10
Colleges, universities and professional schools	13
Ski resorts (within 100 miles)	0
Weather
	City stats
Annual precipitation (inches)	15.71
Clear days	160
High temp in July ° F	78.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F	40.4°
Health***
	City stats
Hospitals (within 30 miles)	195
Doctors' offices	1,474
Body mass index (avg. for residents)	26
Cancer mortality (per 100,000, age-adjusted)	136.8
Cardiac mortality (per 100,000)	157.3
Meet the neighbors
	City stats
Median age	41.9
Completed at least some college (% of residents)	74.5%
Married	52.4%
Divorced	9.7%

*Income tax notes:
15 states have statutory provision for automatic adjustment of tax brackets, personal exemption or standard deductions to the rate of inflation. Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio indexes the personal exemption amounts only.
For joint returns, the taxes are twice the tax imposed on half the income.
tax credits.
An additional 1% tax is imposed on taxable income over $1 million.
***County data

Data: OnBoard, FORTUNE. Details

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Additional data and consulting services provided by Bert Sperling's bestplaces.net.

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