Money's list of America's best small cities


69 of 100
BACK NEXT
69. Eau Claire, WI
Eau Claire
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 69
Population: 66,000
Compare Eau Claire to Top 10 Best Places
Sure, Wisconsin produces great cheese. But Eau Claire proves that it also produces great fish. Residents can ply their rods right downtown -- the city was founded at the junction of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers.

If residents ever tire of the area's many trees, rivers and rolling hills, they can take advantage of the cultural offerings of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

Or they can hit the active music scene (indie folk band Bon Iver got its start here) by dropping by one of the many live music performances going on in the city each week. --J.S.

Subscribe to Money Magazine

Is Eau Claire a great town, or what?
Eau Claire stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $64,955 $90,957
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 2.33% 15.71%
See jobs near Eau Claire
Median home price $120,000 $239,391
See Eau Claire homes for sale
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 33.3% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 39.4% 22.9%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 27 24
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 244 2,967
High temp in July ° F 81.8° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 1.9° 21.3°
Median age 31.2 35.3
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $64,955 $90,957
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $68,808 $86,860
State sales tax 5.00% 5.45%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 7.75%I 7.35%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 4.60%I 2.96%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,349 $1,707
Job growth %
(2000-2009)*		 2.33% 15.71%
See jobs near Eau Claire
Housing
Median home price $120,000 $239,391
Average property taxes
(2008)		 $2,278 $3,418
See Eau Claire homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 2 25
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 33.3% 22.9%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 39.4% 22.9%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 89.7/10.3 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) 1 2
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 27 24
Median commute time (in minutes) 12.8 21.4
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 4.4% 13.6%
% population walk or bike to work 8.0% 3.6%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 5 31
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 244 2,967
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 114 207
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 28 162
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 7 72
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 1 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 21 12
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 1.0 1.5
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 32.73 37.40
% clear days in the area 26 29
High temp in July ° F 81.8° 86.2°
Low temp in Jan ° F 1.9° 21.3°
Median age 31.2 35.3
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 63.1% 71.5%
Married % 45.6% 56.6%
Divorced % 8.7% 8.4%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 20.8 94.9
From the August 2010 issue
Notes: *County data

(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.
The tax brackets reported are for single individuals. For married taxpayers, the same rates apply to income brackets ranging from $13,620 to $300,000.
  • Homes for sale
  • See all Eau Claire homes for sale
  • 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

Comments? E-mail the editors

onboard

Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.