Money's list of America's best small towns


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83. Calera, AL
Calera
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 83
Population: 9,400
Compare Calera to Top 10 Best Places
Although it's only 20 miles from Birmingham, Calera offers plenty of country scenery nestled between the hills of central Alabama. Typical outdoors activities like hunting and fishing are popular.

The town is fiercely loyal to its local stores; Billie's Toyota dealership, for example, has been around for generations and continues to thrive from support of loyal residents.

The town's strong community helps keeps Calera's crime rate low. It has little diversity, however. --R.G.

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Calera stats
Median family income
(per year)		 $64,816 $97,441
Job growth %
(2000-2008)*		 41.48% 19.58%
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Median home price $129,014 $262,148
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Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 2.2% 25.6%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 -7.1% 28.2%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 103 19
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 411 1,923
High temp in July ° F* 89.7° 85.5°
Low temp in Jan ° F* 32.2° 21.0°
Median age 35.6 36.6
Median family income
(per year)		 $64,816 $97,441
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $71,148 $95,041
State sales tax 4.00% 5.63%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 5.00%I 6.06%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.00%I 3.07%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,729 $1,744
Job growth %
(2000-2008)*		 41.48% 19.58%
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Median home price $129,014 $262,148
Average property taxes
(2007)		 $739 $3,853
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Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 9 20
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 2.2% 25.6%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 -7.1% 28.2%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 90.1/9.9 90.1/9.9
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 N.A. 78.6%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 13 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 103 19
Median commute time (in minutes) 23.3 22.5
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 17.1% 13.8%
% population walk or bike to work 1.5% 2.3%
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 5 24
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 411 1,923
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 10 174
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 59 148
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 13 53
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 2 7
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) N.A. 17
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 1.2 1.2
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 58.30 39.77
% clear days in the area 27 27
High temp in July ° F* 89.7° 85.5°
Low temp in Jan ° F* 32.2° 21.0°
Median age 35.6 36.6
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 54.3% 71.9%
Married % 59.9% 62.9%
Divorced % 10.9% 7.7%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 96.2 58.9
From the August 2009 issue
Notes:
* County data
(3) Crime incidences are estimates based on FBI 2007 Universal Crime and incidence reports, OnBoard analysis.

(I) Income tax notes:
Some states effectively double the bracket widths for joint filers (AL, AZ, CT, HI, ID, KS, LA, ME, NE, NY, OR). CA doubles all bracket widths except the $1,000,000 bracket. Some states increase, but don't double, all or some bracket widths for joint filers (GA, MN, NM, NC, ND, OK, RI, VT, WI). Some states do not adjust their brackets for joint filers (AR, DE, IA, KY, MS, MO, MT, OH, SC, VA, WV, DC). Of these states, some permit married couples to file separately to avoid a marriage penalty, and some allow joint filers to make an adjustment to reduce their tax after it is calculated. MD decreases some of its bracket widths and increases others. NJ adds a 2.45% rate and doubles some bracket widths.
Local rates are excluded; 14 states have county or city level income taxes. In each of these states the average rate for all counties and cities, weighted by total personal income within each jurisdiction, is: 0.19% in Ala.; 0.06% in Ark.; 0.16% in Del.; 1.16% in Ind.; 0.3% in Iowa.; 0.76% in Ky.; 2.98% in Md.; 0.44% in Mich.; 0.12% in Mo.; 0.09% in N.J.; 1.7% in N.Y.; 1.82% in Ohio; 0.36% in Ore.; and 1.25% in Pa.
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How we picked the Best Places
Using statistics from data provider Onboard Informatics, we crunched the numbers in order to zero in on America's best small towns for families. (Last year, we looked at small cities, with populations between 50,000 and 300,000.) More

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