Money's list of America's best small cities


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31. Rockville, MD
Rockville
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 31
Population: 61,000
Compare Rockville to Top 10 Best Places
With a recently rebuilt downtown, Rockville boasts a prime location, great schools, and economic stability. Some of the best primary schools in the country are here.

Just shy of an hour's commute to both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, this city is close to the offices of the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Health, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. So there are plenty of good, stable jobs to be had. --N.A.

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Is Rockville a great town, or what?
Rockville stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $102,544 $90,957
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 21.01% 15.71%
See jobs near Rockville
Median home price $390,000 $239,391
See Rockville homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 9.6% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 13.0% 22.9%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 23 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 193 24
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,904 2,967
High temp in July ° F 86.8° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 24.2° 21.3°
Median age 40.5 35.3
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $102,544 $90,957
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $84,052 $86,860
State sales tax 6.00% 5.45%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 6.25% 7.35%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 2.00% 2.96%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $2,217 $1,707
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 21.01% 15.71%
See jobs near Rockville
Housing
Median home price $390,000 $239,391
Average property taxes
(2008)		 $5,436 $3,418
See Rockville homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 38 25
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 9.6% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 13.0% 22.9%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 85.4/14.6 87.8/12.2
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 74.0% 77.8%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 23 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 193 24
Median commute time (in minutes) 28.3 21.4
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 25.6% 13.6%
% population walk or bike to work 3.0% 3.6%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 49 31
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 5,904 2,967
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 238 207
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 207 162
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 177 72
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 31 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 6 12
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 2.6 1.5
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 43.77 37.40
% clear days in the area 29 29
High temp in July ° F 86.8° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 24.2° 21.3°
Median age 40.5 35.3
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 75.3% 71.5%
Married % 53.1% 56.6%
Divorced % 7.8% 8.4%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 219.8 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.
  • 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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