Money's list of America's best small cities


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10. Rogers, AR
Rogers
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 10
Population: 57,000
Unemployment: 5.8%
Compare Rogers to Top 10 Best Places
If you're inclined to dismiss a small city in Arkansas as a backwater, you're making a big mistake. Rogers is right next door to Bentonville, where Wal-Mart is headquartered.

Given the power of the retail behemoth, many Fortune 500 firms that sell it their wares have moved executives to the area. Lots of them have settled in Rogers, giving it a cosmopolitan feel. (Wal-Mart's CEO, Mike Duke, also calls Rogers home.)

They're drawn by top-notch schools and outdoor activities, including swimming and wakeboarding on the town's two lakes and golfing on its five courses.

(Not all is picture perfect: Rogers does contain some rundown areas.) Though Wal-Mart has had layoffs in recent years, the jobless rate here remains low. --A.L.

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Is Rogers a great town, or what?
Rogers stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $59,658 $90,957
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 22.84% 15.71%
See jobs near Rogers
Median home price $124,483 $239,391
See Rogers homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 21.6% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 21.1% 22.9%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 23 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 253 24
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 847 2,967
High temp in July ° F 89.9° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 22.7° 21.3°
Median age 31.2 35.3
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $59,658 $90,957
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $65,703 $86,860
State sales tax 6.00% 5.45%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 7.00%I 7.35%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 1.00%I 2.96%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,861 $1,707
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 22.84% 15.71%
See jobs near Rogers
Housing
Median home price $124,483 $239,391
Average property taxes
(2008)		 $1,275 $3,418
See Rogers homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 2 25
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 21.6% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 21.1% 22.9%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 95.0/5.0 87.8/12.2
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 N.A. 77.8%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 23 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 253 24
Median commute time (in minutes) 15.1 21.4
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 4.2% 13.6%
% population walk or bike to work 3.0% 3.6%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 9 31
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 847 2,967
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 26 207
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 42 162
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 13 72
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 1 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) N.A. 12
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 1.0 1.5
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 47.00 37.40
% clear days in the area 34 29
High temp in July ° F 89.9° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 22.7° 21.3°
Median age 31.2 35.3
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 56.1% 71.5%
Married % 59.5% 56.6%
Divorced % 10.7% 8.4%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 154.0 94.9
From the August 2010 issue
Notes: *County data
(3) Crime incidences are estimates based on FBI 2008 Universal Crime and incidence reports, OnBoard analysis.

(I) Income tax notes:
16 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 index the personal exemption amounts only.
A special tax table is available for low-income taxpayers reducing their tax payments.
For joint returns, the taxes are twice the tax imposed on half the income.
Tax credits.
Galleries & video
  • Homes for sale
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  • Real estate and homes for sale on Trulia
Find Your Best Places
Region
Northeast South
Midwest West
Ranking
Top 100 winners only
Population
8.4M
46,000
Home Prices
2009 median sales prices
$1.2M
$36K
Video
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 cities for families. (Last year, we looked at small towns, with populations between 8,500 and 50,000.) More

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