Money's list of America's best small cities


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3. Eden Prairie, MN
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Eden Prairie
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 3
Population: 61,200
Compare Eden Prairie to Top 10 Best Places
Not much has changed in Eden Prairie lately, and that's a good thing. It still has the heady combination of terrific employment prospects, natural beauty, and a well-educated workforce. It's also kept a healthy budget surplus of 2% the past two years.

Already home to major business firms, the city is preparing for further expansion with a light commuter rail project in the works for 2018.

You have to look hard to find downsides, but there are a few: winters are long and cold, and there's not much of a downtown besides a mega shopping mall. But families come for the jobs and stay for the lifestyle.

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Eden Prairie stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $116,085 $96,825
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 12.39% 25.01%
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Median home price $264,505 $269,768
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Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 32.5% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 52.0% 29.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 03 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 323 20
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 3,122 3,134
High temp in July ° F 85.8° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 3.4° 18.4°
Median age 34.7 35.2
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $116,085 $96,825
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $104,864 $93,218
State sales tax 6.88% 5.57%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 7.85%I 7.31%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 5.35%I 3.08%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,614 $1,596
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 12.39% 25.01%
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Housing
Median home price $264,505 $269,768
Average property taxes
(2011)		 $4,665 $6,517
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Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 27 8
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 32.5% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 52.0% 29.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 93.8/6.2 91.5/8.5
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 79.7% 77.3%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 03 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 323 20
Median commute time (in minutes) 19.4 22.2
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 6.2% 14.9%
% population walk or bike to work 1.6% 3.2%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 62 33
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 3,122 3,134
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 187 199
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 211 169
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 91 70
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 5 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 5 6
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 6.0 1.4
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 30.44 34.21
% clear days in the area 26 32
High temp in July ° F 85.8° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 3.4° 18.4°
Median age 34.7 35.2
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 84.6% 72.6%
Married % 63.5% 57.9%
Divorced % 7.5% 8.0%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 70.0 118.4
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.

(I) Income tax notes:
17 states have statutory provision for automatically adjusting to the rate of inflation the dollar values of the income tax brackets, standard deductions, and/or personal exemptions. Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska index the personal exemption only. Oregon does not index the income brackets for $125,000 and over. Because the inflation adjustments for 2012 are not yet available in some cases, the table may report the 2011 amounts.
These states use the personal exemption amounts provided in the federal Internal Revenue Code.
The income brackets reported for Minnesota are for single individuals. For married couples filing jointly, the same tax rates apply to income brackets ranging from $34,590, to $137,431.
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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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