Best Places to Live America's best small towns
Vote for this town as fan favorite

Want more ?

Like MONEY magazine too for tips on saving more, investing better and spending wisely.

35 of 50
35. Leesburg, VA
BACK NEXT
Leesburg, VA
35
Top 50 rank: 35
Population: 46,140

Leesburg's charming downtown dates back to 1758, and the community has made a point of preserving the historical architecture. Other perks include the town's proximity to the Virginia wine country and an award-winning farmers' market.

Homes in the area have a median sale price a bit under $400,000 -- not cheap, but reasonable for the region. There aren't many large employers in town, so most residents commute 40 miles to D.C., or to a major AOL office, just 15 miles away. --H.L.

@CNNMoney
Subscribe to Money Magazine
BACK NEXT
Leesburg, VA
Town stats
Median family income (per year)
$118,180
Job growth % (2010-2012)
7.23%
Median home price (2012)
$322,500
Reading test scores (% above/below average)
1.5%
Math test scores (% above/below average)
-0.4%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)
1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)
18
Financials
Town stats
Median family income (per year)
$118,180
Family purchasing power (annual, cost-of-living adjusted)
$86,062
Sales tax
5.00%II
State income tax rate (highest bracket)
5.75%
State income tax rate (lowest bracket)
2.00%
Auto insurance premiums (Average price quotes, for the state)
$1,584
Job growth % (2010-2012)
7.23%
Housing
Median home price (2012)
$322,500
Average property taxes
(2012)
$4,006
Education
Reading test scores (% above/below state average)
1.5%
Test scores math (% above/below average)
-0.4%
% students attending public/private schools (located within town limits)
95.6/4.4
Quality of life
Air quality index* (% of days AQI ranked as good)
86.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)
1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)
18
Median commute time (in minutes)
30.6
% population with commute 45 mins. or longer
28.8%
% population walk or bike to work
3.8%
Leisure and culture
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts)
0.5
Weather
Annual rainfall (inches)
41.8
% clear days in the area
54%
High temp in July ° F
87.1°
Low temp in Jan ° F
20.8°
Meet the neighbors
Median age
32.7
Completed at least some college (% of residents)
70.6%
Married %
52.5%
Divorced %
6.3%
Racial diversity index (100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)
145.1
View moreless See Leesburg homes for sale
From the September 2013 issue

Source: Onboard Informatics. Details


(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.
Is Leesburg a great town, or what?
More Best Places
Full list: Top 50
Full list: Top 50
Top-earning towns
Top-earning towns
25 best places for the rich and single
25 hotspots for the rich and single
  • Homes for sale
  • Leesburg real estate
Real estate and homes for sale on Trulia
Fan Favorite Towns

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
See the rest
CNNMONEY CALCULATOR
Was my home a good investment?

I bought my home in

It cost:

It's now worth:

Calculate
How we pick the Best Places
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

Comments? E-mail the editors

onboard
Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.