Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities

Cleanest air

In these cities, the air quality is rated highly, and pollution levels are below the U.S. average.

Rank	City	Air quality index (% days AQI ranked good)	Air Pollution Index (100 is nat'l avg; lower is better)
1	Richmond, VA	100.0%	94
2	Lake Havasu City, AZ	100.0%	98
3	Novato, CA	99.0%	85
3	San Rafael, CA	99.0%	85
5	Ames, IA	99.0%	91
6	Bismarck, ND	99.0%	94
7	Lincoln, NE	98.0%	75
8	Honolulu, HI	98.0%	80
9	Petaluma, CA	98.0%	85
9	Santa Rosa, CA	98.0%	85
11	Bradenton, FL	98.0%	95
12	Cheyenne, WY	98.0%	98
13	Schenectady, NY	97.0%	84
14	Aurora, CO	97.0%	96
14	Shawnee, KS	97.0%	96
16	Daytona Beach, FL	96.0%	77
16	Port Orange, FL	96.0%	77
18	Santa Cruz, CA	96.0%	80
19	Salinas, CA	96.0%	82
20	Watsonville, CA	96.0%	83
21	Champaign, IL	96.0%	85
22	Port St. Lucie, FL	96.0%	86
22	Fargo, ND	96.0%	86
24	Deltona, FL	96.0%	87
25	Victoria, TX	96.0%	88

From the August 2010 issue

Source: AQI numbers from Environmental Protection Agency. Air Pollution Index is based on the incidence of airborne lead, NO2, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and ozone depletion.

Best Places Winners

Top 10 | All 100

Top 25 lists

Home price trends

Hover over any of the 10 Best Places below to see how real estate prices have changed in the past 2 years.

City	Avg. listing price (June 2010)
1. Eden Prairie, MN	$430,710
2. Columbia-Ellicott City, MD	$487,602
3. Newton, MA	$989,445
4. Bellevue, WA	$801,423
5. McKinney, TX	$267,661
6. Fort Collins, CO	$271,950
7. Overland Park, KS	$308,235
8. Fishers, IN	$282,482
9. Ames, IA	$189,657
10. Rogers, AR	$269,229

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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 cities for families. (Last year, we looked at small towns, with populations between 8,500 and 50,000.) More

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Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities