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5. Franklin Township, NJ
Franklin Township
A 138-year-old Victorian in Franklin Township's East Millstone historic district.
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 5
Population: 59,100
Compare Franklin Township to Top 10 Best Places
When you hear the phrase "primeval old-growth forest," chances are New Jersey doesn't spring immediately to mind. But the state known for jokes about its mammoth turnpike does in fact boast such a pristine wilderness: a 65-acre one in Franklin Township.

This surprising 46-square-mile municipality, home to several different villages is just an hour from Manhattan, but residents don't need to hit the big city to find jobs. There are plenty of high-tech, pharmaceutical and research and development firms in the area, not to mention Princeton just to the south and Rutgers and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to the north. And housing is a relative deal for the region. Starter homes go for less than $250,000 in the Somerset area. And the solid school system has a 95% graduation rate.

On the downside, New Jersey's tax burden is notoriously high. The township's property taxes run about $7,000 for the typical $385,000 three-bedroom, two-bath house.

Median family income
(per year)		 $98,066 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $73,513 $84,802
Sales tax** 7.00% 6.60%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 8.97%I 5.22%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 1.40%I 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $2,559 $1,854
Job growth %
(2000-2007)		 16.06% 18.60%
Median home price $319,000 $293,712
Average property taxes
(2006)		 $7,648 $4,072
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 86 40
Junior colleges and
technical institutes (within 30 miles)		 27 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 5.0% 17.3%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 30.2% 16.6%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 81.0/19.0 89.5/10.5
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 N.A. 76.0%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 14 25
Median commute time
(in minutes)		 24.2 23.0
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 24.3% 15.8%
% population walk or bike to work 2.1% 3.0%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 41 51
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 4,295 4,141
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 361 338
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 378 242
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 122 90
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 17 11
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 30 13
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 3.4 1.5
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 48.13 36.31
% clear days in the area 26 30
High temp in July ° F 84.9° 87.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 20.0° 22.9°
Has health plan
(% of residents)		 91.1% 88.2%
Body mass index (avg. for residents) 26 27
Diabetes rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 7.6% 9.6%
Hypertension rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 28.1% 27.3%
Median age 38.8 36.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 71.8% 73.6%
Married 52.4% 57.5%
Divorced 8.0% 8.3%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 333.1 104.0
Amount spent on vacations
(domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)		 $7,866 $8,012
From the August 2008 issue
Notes:
* County data
** State data

(I) Income tax notes:
The tax brackets reported are for single individuals. For married couples filing jointly, the tax rates range from 1.4% to 8.97% (with 7 income brackets) applying to income brackets from $20,000 to over $500,000.
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FORTUNE 500
Johnson & Johnson 35
Medco Health Solutions 51
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FORTUNE: Best to work for
None  
   
There are no Best Companies to Work For in this state.
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Sperling's Best Places
Additional data and consulting services provided by Bert Sperling's bestplaces.net.
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How we picked the Best Places
Using statistics from data provider Onboard Informatics and consultant Bert Sperling of BestPlaces.net, 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 7,500 and 50,000.) More
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