Money's list of America's best small cities


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8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
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Columbia
An antiques store in Ellicott City
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 8
Population: 100,700
Compare Columbia to Top 10 Best Places
Living on the border of Columbia and Ellicott City offers the best of both worlds -- a charming, historic downtown with plenty of restaurants (Ellicott City) and a thoughtfully laid-out planned community with tons of big-box stores and a giant arena (Columbia).

Families in this pair of unincorporated cities get to enjoy living in a community with a diverse population, reasonable housing costs, terrific schools, miles of hiking trails, and a new development, Blandair Park, which will include 20 acres of forest, wetlands, meadows, and a historic farm complex.

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Columbia stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $117,086 $96,825
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 1.04% 25.01%
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Median home price $298,000 $269,768
See Columbia homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 17.6% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 20.3% 29.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 233 20
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 4,706 3,134
High temp in July ° F 87.1° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 22.0° 18.4°
Median age 38.6 35.2
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $117,086 $96,825
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $98,227 $93,218
State sales tax 6.00% 5.57%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 5.50% 7.31%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.00% 3.08%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,807 $1,596
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 1.04% 25.01%
See jobs near Columbia
Housing
Median home price $298,000 $269,768
Average property taxes
(2011)		 $5,058 $6,517
See Columbia homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 60 8
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 17.6% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 20.3% 29.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 91.7/8.3 91.5/8.5
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 N.A. 77.3%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 233 20
Median commute time (in minutes) 26.0 22.2
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 24.1% 14.9%
% population walk or bike to work 1.7% 3.2%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 42 33
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 4,706 3,134
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 295 199
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 196 169
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 101 70
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 32 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 3 6
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 2.6 1.4
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 45.27 34.21
% clear days in the area 29 32
High temp in July ° F 87.1° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 22.0° 18.4°
Median age 38.6 35.2
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 83.7% 72.6%
Married % 55.3% 57.9%
Divorced % 9.2% 8.0%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 250.3 118.4
From the September 2012 issue
Notes: *County data

Due to an error by our data provider, an earlier version listed incorrect stats for this city's number of colleges.
(3) Crime incidences are estimates based on FBI 2011 Universal Crime and incidence reports, OnBoard analysis.
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How we picked the Best Places
Using statistics from data services company Onboard Informatics, 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 8,500 and 50,000.) More

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