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Once a sleepy suburb of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho is coming into its own with employers like Hewlett-Packard and Intel helping add almost 2,500 jobs in the past couple of years. There's now nightlife downtown in addition to many bike paths, parks, and horseback trails. The real estate market is still shaking off the doldrums of the housing downturn; while sales are picking up briskly, foreclosed homes dot the streets. Those on the buying side of the equation, however, can expect to find good deals. --E.R.
Notes:
*County data
Due to erroneous job, cost-of-living, and test score stats for a small number of places, this city's rank changed slightly from an earlier version.
Details.
Due to an error by our data provider, an earlier version listed incorrect stats for this city's number of colleges.
(I) Income tax notes:
The income brackets reported for New Mexico are for single individuals. For married couples filing jointly, the same tax rates apply to income brackets ranging from $8,000, to $24,000. These states use the personal exemption amounts provided in the federal Internal Revenue Code.
(II) Sales tax notes:
The sales taxes in Hawaii and New Mexico have broad bases that include many services.
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.)
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