Money's list of America's best small cities


Fastest job growth
Here are the counties with the highest percentage job growth (2000-2007).
Rank County Towns include Job growth % 2000-2007
1 Tooele County, UT Tooele 123.35%
2 Kendall County, IL Oswego 63.69%
3 Flagler County, FL Palm Coast 61.78%
4 Loudoun County, VA Leesburg 58.94%
5 Washington County, UT St. George 57.74%
6 St. Lucie County, FL Port St. Lucie 50.26%
7 Douglas County, CO Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Parker 46.63%
8 Lee County, FL Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres 46.37%
9 Rockwall County, TX Rockwall 45.98%
10 Collier County, FL Golden Gate, Naples 43.88%
11 Hidalgo County, TX Edinburg, McAllen, Mission, Pharr 43.45%
12 Benton County, AR Bella Vista, Bentonville, Rogers 43.13%
13 Delaware County, OH Delaware, Dublin, Westerville 42.14%
14 Dallas County, IA Urbandale 40.89%
15 Lake County, FL Citrus Ridge 39.35%
16 Montgomery County, TX Conroe, The Woodlands 38.53%
17 Cochise County, AZ Sierra Vista 37.37%
18 Placer County, CA Granite Bay, Lincoln, Rocklin, Roseville 37.08%
19 Columbia County, GA Evans, Martinez 36.34%
20 St. Johns County, FL Fruit Cove, Palm Valley, Ponte Vedra 35.92%
21 Will County, IL Bolingbrook, Crest Hill, Goodings Grove, Joliet, New Lenox, Plainfield, Romeoville 35.90%
22 Sherburne County, MN Elk River 35.73%
23 Prince William County, VA Dale City, Lake Ridge, Linton Hall, Montclair 35.25%
24 Yavapai County, AZ Prescott 34.61%
25 Fort Bend County, TX Mission Bend, Missouri City, New Territory, Stafford 34.47%
From the August 2008 issue
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only counties where each Best Place within it was also experiencing job growth were considered.
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Top 3

City Median income
New Canaan, CT $231,138
Darien, CT $218,130
Lake Forest, IL $212,122
City % single
Hoboken, NJ 57.7%
Cambridge, MA 52.4%
Somerville, MA 51.4%
City Median home price
Nicholasville, KY $70,000
Watauga, TX $117,040
Redan, GA $115,000
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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