Money's list of America's best small cities


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72. Waltham, MA
Waltham
Farmer's market in Waltham
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 72
Population: 59,300
Compare Waltham to Top 10 Best Places
This former blue-collar community has changed as high-tech and pharmaceutical companies have moved in. Just 12 miles from Bostons center yet right on the edge of a rural area, Waltham is a relatively affordable suburb thats also home to Bentley College and Brandeis University.

Waltham is also the site of the Waltham Watch Factory, which dates back to the Industrial Revolution, along with several historical museums that show the citys ties to that time period. Unfortunately, property taxes are high.

Median family income
(per year)		 $80,396 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $64,472 $84,802
Sales tax 5.00% 6.60%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 N.A.I 5.22%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 5.30%I 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 N.A. $1,854
Job growth %
(2000-2007)		 -0.13% 18.60%
Median home price $389,915 $293,712
Average property taxes
(2006)		 $6,506 $4,072
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 77 40
Junior colleges and
technical institutes (within 30 miles)		 24 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 7.3% 17.3%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 -0.9% 16.6%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 81.3/18.7 89.5/10.5
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 91.2% 76.0%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 2 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 12 25
Median commute time
(in minutes)		 20.5 23.0
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 12.6% 15.8%
% population walk or bike to work 7.6% 3.0%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 51 51
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,775 4,141
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 419 338
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 320 242
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 183 90
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 28 11
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 30 13
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 2.1 1.5
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 45.79 36.31
% clear days in the area 27 30
High temp in July ° F 82.8° 87.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 16.6° 22.9°
Has health plan
(% of residents)		 92.2% 88.2%
Body mass index (avg. for residents) 27 27
Diabetes rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 11.1% 9.6%
Hypertension rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 28.2% 27.3%
Median age 37.5 36.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 63.1% 73.6%
Married 38.9% 57.5%
Divorced 7.0% 8.3%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 79.4 104.0
Amount spent on vacations
(domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)		 $7,210 $8,012
From the August 2008 issue
Notes:
* County data
** State data

(I) Income tax notes:
17 states have statutory provision for automatic adjustment of tax brackets, personal exemption or standard deductions to the rate of inflation. Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio indexes the personal exemption amounts only.
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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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