^*The tax brackets reported are for single individuals. For married taxpayers, the same rates apply to income brackets ranging from $21,250 to $200,000. Lower exemption amounts allowed for high income taxpayers. Tax rate scheduled to decrease after tax year 2005. These states allow personal exemption or standard deductions as provided in the IRC. Utah allows a personal exemption equal to three-fourths the federal exemptions.

Average is based only on data for more than 1,300 cities in the Best Places database. Included are cities with population of more than 14,000 with above-average income, population growth and real estate appreciation during the past five years. The data represent the zip codes associated with the town name. The listed populations often include areas outside an incorporated municipality. For instance, the town of Vienna has a population of 14,900, but 61,700 residents have a Vienna postal address.