Money's list of America's best small cities


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47. Scottsdale, AZ
Scottsdale
Horse Fountain in Scottsdale
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 47
Population: 231,100
Compare Scottsdale to Top 10 Best Places
The epitome of an upscale shopping destination – the New York Times described its downtown as "a desert version of Miami's South Beach" with "plenty of late night partying and a buzzing hotel scene."

Scottsdale has plenty to offer. If you love golf, this is the place. The town is home to the FBR Open Golf Tournament, the best-attended event on the PGA Tour.

As you might imagine, Scottsdale isn't cheap. But the cost of housing, similar to other Phoenix-area towns, has declined from the market peak.

Median family income
(per year)		 $96,086 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $63,256 $84,802
Sales tax 7.95% 6.60%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 4.54%I 5.22%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.59%I 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,902 $1,854
Job growth %
(2000-2007)		 17.53% 18.60%
Median home price $445,425 $293,712
Average property taxes
(2006)		 $2,334 $4,072
See Scottsdale homes for sale
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 26 40
Junior colleges and
technical institutes (within 30 miles)		 31 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 27.8% 17.3%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 25.3% 16.6%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 84.3/11.7 89.5/10.5
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 21.4% 76.0%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 2 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 36 25
Median commute time
(in minutes)		 21.5 23.0
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 11.3% 15.8%
% population walk or bike to work 3.5% 3.0%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 71 51
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,326 4,141
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 464 338
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 350 242
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 77 90
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 5 11
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 2 13
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.9 1.5
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 9.09 36.31
% clear days in the area 58 30
High temp in July ° F 105.1° 87.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 39.9° 22.9°
Has health plan
(% of residents)		 83.0% 88.2%
Body mass index (avg. for residents) 27 27
Diabetes rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 13.2% 9.6%
Hypertension rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 28.5% 27.3%
Median age 41.5 36.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 76.5% 73.6%
Married 55.1% 57.5%
Divorced 12.2% 8.3%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 31.7 104.0
Amount spent on vacations
(domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)		 $8,531 $8,012
From the August 2008 issue
Notes:
* County data
** State data

(I) Income tax notes:
For joint returns, the taxes are twice the tax imposed on half the income.
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Nearby...
FORTUNE 500
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FORTUNE: Best to work for
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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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