Money's list of America's best small cities


States
Top 100
Rank City Population
34 Chino Hills 74,600
27 Cupertino 58,700
41 Diamond Bar 57,200
6 Irvine 213,600
42 Yorba Linda 65,800
Other cities
  Alameda 74,821
  Alhambra 85,953
  Anaheim 339,280
  Antioch 106,114
  Apple Valley 70,200
  Arcadia 56,248
  Arden-Arcade 93,853
  Bakersfield 351,869
  Baldwin Park 77,380
  Bellflower 76,170
  Berkeley 114,764
  Buena Park 81,651
  Burbank 103,989
  Camarillo 66,282
  Carlsbad 96,374
  Carmichael 62,704
  Carson 92,366
  Castro Valley 61,697
  Cathedral City 52,328
  Chico 86,302
  Chino 83,031
  Chula Vista 243,356
  Citrus Heights 84,432
  Clovis 92,318
  Colton 52,851
  Compton 96,568
  Concord 123,024
  Corona 156,761
  Costa Mesa 110,817
  Daly City 101,712
  Danville 52,078
  Davis 66,308
  Delano 53,812
  Downey 112,228
  Eastvale 58,610
  El Cajon 92,718
  El Monte 121,791
  Elk Grove 152,147
  Encinitas 61,622
  Escondido 146,556
  Fairfield 106,408
  Folsom 72,976
  Fontana 199,047
  Fountain Valley 55,516
  Fremont 215,673
  Fresno 504,425
  Fullerton 135,116
  Garden Grove 171,314
  Gardena 59,358
  Glendale 197,176
  Glendora 50,373
  Hacienda Heights 53,135
  Hanford 54,661
  Hawthorne 84,860
  Hayward 148,391
  Hemet 82,596
  Hesperia 91,465
  Highland 53,633
  Huntington Beach 192,620
  Huntington Park 60,898
  Indio 84,443
  Inglewood 112,714
  La Habra 61,071
  La Mesa 58,446
  Laguna Niguel 64,469
  Lake Elsinore 51,848
  Lake Forest 77,456
  Lakewood 79,106
  Lancaster 157,198
  Livermore 81,796
  Lodi 62,862
  Long Beach 464,278
  Los Angeles 3,833,995
  Lynwood 70,266
  Madera 62,270
  Manteca 68,773
  Menifee 88,525
  Merced 80,181
  Milpitas 67,503
  Mission Viejo 94,461
  Modesto 202,997
  Montebello 62,252
  Monterey Park 61,234
  Moreno Valley 199,020
  Mountain View 76,036
  Murrieta 97,918
  Napa 77,591
  National City 59,731
  Newport Beach 83,377
  Norwalk 105,080
  Novato 52,785
  Oakland 404,155
  Oceanside 169,684
  Ontario 171,691
  Orange 138,345
  Oxnard 202,649
  Palmdale 153,479
  Palo Alto 65,260
  Paramount 55,236
  Pasadena 143,080
  Perris 68,426
  Petaluma 59,077
  Pico Rivera 63,138
  Pittsburg 64,660
  Placentia 51,090
  Pleasanton 70,486
  Pomona 152,699
  Porterville 55,445
  Rancho Cordova 62,265
  Rancho Cucamonga 171,176
  Redding 90,201
  Redlands 69,689
  Redondo Beach 66,882
  Redwood City 77,835
  Rialto 98,700
  Richmond 105,333
  Riverside 311,694
  Rocklin 70,082
  Rosemead 54,412
  Roseville 128,556
  Sacramento 466,722
  Salinas 151,748
  San Bernardino 211,955
  San Buenaventura 107,754
  San Clemente 61,465
  San Diego 1,319,558
  San Francisco 808,976
  San Jose 956,368
  San Juan Capistrano 63,499
  San Leandro 85,002
  San Marcos 83,322
  San Mateo 98,878
  San Rafael 58,865
  San Ramon 61,430
  Santa Ana 339,130
  Santa Barbara 90,784
  Santa Clara 119,382
  Santa Clarita 169,500
  Santa Cruz 61,642
  Santa Maria 86,356
  Santa Monica 90,647
  Santa Rosa 170,182
  Santee 53,866
  Simi Valley 126,285
  South Gate 96,640
  South San Francisco 64,922
  South Whittier 57,002
  Stockton 295,339
  Sunnyvale 141,895
  Temecula 97,100
  Thousand Oaks 127,232
  Torrance 145,191
  Tracy 85,101
  Tulare 60,041
  Turlock 69,351
  Tustin 75,876
  Union City 72,123
  Upland 74,629
  Vacaville 93,219
  Vallejo 115,300
  Victorville 114,362
  Visalia 128,762
  Vista 97,032
  Walnut Creek 64,754
  Watsonville 51,980
  West Covina 105,846
  Westminster 90,283
  Whittier 85,227
  Woodland 56,686
  Yuba City 65,480
  Yucaipa 51,489
From the September 2012 issue
Due to erroneous job, cost-of-living, and test score data for a small number of places, two cities were left off this year's top 100 and two were mistakenly included. Other cities moved up or down slightly once all data were corrected. Details.
Best Places Winners
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Home price trends
Hover over any of the 10 Best Places below to see how real estate prices have changed in the past year.
City Avg. listing price
(July 2012)
1. Carmel, IN $304,340
2. McKinney, TX $245,917
3. Eden Prairie, MN $413,566
4. Newton, MA $850,117
5. Redmond, WA $518,982
6. Irvine, CA $904,753
7. Reston, VA $467,934
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD $406,943
9. Overland Park, KS $278,204
10. Chapel Hill, NC $376,660

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Video
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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