Money's list of America's best small cities


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64. Sugar Land, TX
Sugar Land
City Hall of Sugar Land
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 64
Population: 79,900
Compare Sugar Land to Top 10 Best Places
This southwest suburb of Houston is home to one of the nation's most diverse communities. It has attracted many Asian immigrants, for example, in part because of its top-notch schools and upscale amenities.

Corporate offices for Minute Maid and Aetna US Healthcare are headquartered in Sugar Land, though its also an easy commute to downtown Houston and other suburbs.

Median family income
(per year)		 $110,327 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $121,506 $84,802
Sales tax 8.25% 6.60%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 N.A. 5.22%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 N.A. 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,710 $1,854
Job growth %
(2000-2007)		 46.24% 18.60%
Median home price $272,151 $293,712
Average property taxes
(2006)		 $4,319 $4,072
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 18 40
Junior colleges and
technical institutes (within 30 miles)		 18 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 4.6% 17.3%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 7.3% 16.6%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 86.4/13.6 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) 20 25
Median commute time
(in minutes)		 29.5 23.0
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 22.0% 15.8%
% population walk or bike to work 0.8% 3.0%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 55 51
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 4,141 4,141
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 418 338
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 160 242
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 43 90
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 5 11
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) N.A. 13
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.2 1.5
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 47.70 36.31
% clear days in the area 25 30
High temp in July ° F 93.6° 87.8°
Low temp in Jan ° F 41.7° 22.9°
Has health plan
(% of residents)		 84.4% 88.2%
Body mass index (avg. for residents) 26 27
Diabetes rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 9.4% 9.6%
Hypertension rates
(% of residents diagnosed)		 27.5% 27.3%
Median age 37.9 36.0
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 79.6% 73.6%
Married 66.6% 57.5%
Divorced 6.3% 8.3%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 228.8 104.0
Amount spent on vacations
(domestic and foreign, household avg. per year)		 $8,896 $8,012
From the August 2008 issue
Notes:
* County data
** State data
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Some data may be provided courtesy of its partners.
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
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