Money's list of America's best small cities


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7. Reston, VA
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Reston
Homes facing Lake Anne
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 7
Population: 60,300
Compare Reston to Top 10 Best Places
Reston may be a planned community, but don't expect cookie-cutter homes here. Thanks to famed master planner Robert Simon, houses of all shapes and sizes sit next to one another.

Activities come in all stripes too, from an über-urban downtown to 55 miles of bike paths, 52 tennis courts, and 15 pools.

Thanks to Reston's growing reputation as a technology hub near Washington Dulles International Airport, major firms have large offices here. Those who do commute to D.C. contend with traffic, but next year's completion of the Washington Metro's extension to Reston will help alleviate the pain.

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Reston stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $131,559 $96,825
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 1.06% 25.01%
See jobs near Reston
Median home price $350,000 $269,768
See Reston homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 7.8% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 9.0% 29.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 03 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 20
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,502 3,134
High temp in July ° F 87.4° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 21.9° 18.4°
Median age 37.2 35.2
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $131,559 $96,825
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $127,603 $93,218
State sales tax 5.00% 5.57%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 5.75% 7.31%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.00% 3.08%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,237 $1,596
Job growth %
(2000-2011)*		 1.06% 25.01%
See jobs near Reston
Housing
Median home price $350,000 $269,768
Average property taxes
(2011)		 $5,425 $6,517
See Reston homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 43 8
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 7.8% 28.2%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 9.0% 29.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 90.2/9.8 91.5/8.5
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 71.0% 77.3%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 03 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 20
Median commute time (in minutes) 22.5 22.2
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 17.8% 14.9%
% population walk or bike to work 2.0% 3.2%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 55 33
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,502 3,134
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 115 199
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 177 169
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 115 70
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 31 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 4 6
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.7 1.4
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 41.8 34.21
% clear days in the area 29 32
High temp in July ° F 87.4° 86.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 21.9° 18.4°
Median age 37.2 35.2
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 82.7% 72.6%
Married % 51.7% 57.9%
Divorced % 10.7% 8.0%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 134.8 118.4
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.

(II) Sales tax notes:
California (1%) and Virginia (1%) levy mandatory, statewide add-on sales taxes at the local level; these are included in their state sales tax rates.
Arlington is a county without any incorporated municipalities. However, we treat it as a city here because it is included in the Census Bureau's annual list of incorporated places.
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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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