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2. Louisville, CO
Louisville, CO
2
Top 50 rank: 2
Population: 18,924

A two-time no.1, Louisville comes in strong yet again. It's a great place to raise a family, with well-regarded schools and a safe community.

Louisville's housing market has been on the rise since 2008, and its place in the technology-rich Denver-Boulder corridor has kept the job outlook solid, despite recent setbacks like Phillips 66 pulling the plug on a much-anticipated renewable-energy campus.

Locals say the work-life balance in Louisville is hard to beat. Come summer, residents can look forward to weekly events featuring food trucks from local restaurants, beer gardens, live music and much more. Then there's the Colorado sunshine, 1,800 acres of open space, and, of course, the Rocky Mountains, just a 20-minute drive away. --Pieter Van Noordennen

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Louisville, CO
Town stats
Median family income (per year)
$104,321
Job growth % (2010-2012)
6.35%
Median home price (2012)
$368,110
Reading test scores (% above/below average)
29.8%
Math test scores (% above/below average)
35.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)
1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)
13
Financials
Town stats
Median family income (per year)
$104,321
Family purchasing power (annual, cost-of-living adjusted)
$101,184
Sales tax
8.30%
State income tax rate (highest bracket)
4.63%I
State income tax rate (lowest bracket)
4.63%I
Auto insurance premiums (Average price quotes, for the state)
$1,543
Job growth % (2010-2012)
6.35%
Housing
Median home price (2012)
$368,110
Average property taxes
(2012)
$2,383
Education
Reading test scores (% above/below state average)
29.8%
Test scores math (% above/below average)
35.2%
% students attending public/private schools (located within town limits)
94.3/5.7
Quality of life
Air quality index* (% of days AQI ranked as good)
71.6%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)
1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)
13
Median commute time (in minutes)
20.0
% population with commute 45 mins. or longer
11.7%
% population walk or bike to work
2.7%
Leisure and culture
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts)
0.3
Weather
Annual rainfall (inches)
15.81
% clear days in the area
67%
High temp in July ° F
87.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F
19.2°
Meet the neighbors
Median age
40.0
Completed at least some college (% of residents)
86.7%
Married %
54.9%
Divorced %
11.1%
Racial diversity index (100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)
38.4
From the September 2013 issue

Source: Onboard Informatics. Details


(I) Income tax notes:
These states use the personal exemption amounts provided in the federal Internal Revenue Code.
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Money picked the top 100. Now it's your turn: Which town will be our fan favorite? 'Like' your town and it might just make it to No. 1.

Town # of Likes
1. Sharon, MA 11,968
2. Apex, NC 10,738
3. Westford, MA 6,023
4. Peachtree City, GA 5,632
5. Hillsborough, NJ 5,329
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Using statistics from data services company Onboard Informatics and other sources, we crunched the numbers in order to zero in on America's best small towns for families. (Last year, we looked at small cities, with populations between 50,000 and 300,000.) More

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