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It hardly needs to be said that no one moves to North Dakota for the weather. Jobs are another matter: The economic hub of a large portion of south-central North Dakota, Bismarck had the lowest jobless rate on our list as of May at a scant 2.3%. It also has tons of parkland, seven golf courses, two state-of-the-art health care facilities in the area, and a bustling restaurant scene. -- L.M.
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:
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 North Dakota are for single individuals. For married couples filing jointly, the same tax rates apply to income brackets ranging from $59,100 to $388,350.
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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