Money's list of America's best small towns


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86. Ankeny, IA
Ankeny
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WINNER
Top 100 rank: 86
Population: 38,600
Compare Ankeny to Top 10 Best Places
This suburb 10 miles north of Des Moines is growing so fast that the local school district is building four new schools, one set to open in 2011. Though many residents commute 20 minutes to the city, Ankeny is also home to offices of manufacturing and biotech companies such as John Deere and Monsanto. Residents are connected by 37 neighborhood parks, within walking distance of every home. When it comes time to break ground on a new park, or renovate an old one, neighborhood kids get to vote to pick their new playground. --A.W.
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Ankeny stats
  City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $83,209 $99,975
Job growth %
(2000-2010)*		 37.67% 24.63%
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Median home price $166,874 $265,929
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Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 19.5% 25.1%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 18.6% 24.7%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 17 16
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 1,063 2,758
High temp in July ° F 85.8° 84.1°
Low temp in Jan ° F 8.7° 20.9°
Median age 32.5 36.35
Financial City stats Best places avg.
Median family income
(per year)		 $83,209 $99,975
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted)		 $91,539 $95,706
State sales tax 6.00% 5.75%
State income tax rate
(highest bracket)		 8.98%I 7.37%
State income tax rate
(lowest bracket)		 0.36%I 3.13%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state)		 $1,126 $1,687
Job growth %
(2000-2010)*		 37.67% 24.63%
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Housing
Median home price $166,874 $265,929
Average property taxes
(2010)		 $2,858 $4,083
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Education
Colleges, universities and
professional schools (within 30 miles)		 6 28
Test scores reading
(% above/below state average)		 19.5% 25.1%
Test scores math
(% above/below average)		 18.6% 24.7%
% students attending public/private
schools (located within town limits)		 96.8/3.2 92.1/7.9
Quality of life
Air quality index*
(% of days AQI ranked as good)		 81.0% 78.5%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 1 1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 17 16
Median commute time (in minutes) 20.2 23.3
% population with commute
45 mins. or longer		 3.6% 15.4%
% population walk or bike to work 1.4% 2.6%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters
(within 15 miles)		 16 30
Restaurants
(within 15 miles)		 1,063 2,758
Bars
(within 15 miles)		 165 208
Public golf courses
(within 30 miles)		 69 165
Libraries
(within 15 miles)		 36 74
Museums (accredited by AAM;
within 30 miles)		 2 10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 4 16
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.3 1.2
Weather
Annual rainfall
(inches)		 33.38 39.07
% clear days in the area 29 27
High temp in July ° F 85.8° 84.1°
Low temp in Jan ° F 8.7° 20.9°
Median age 32.5 36.35
Completed at least some college
(% of residents)		 75.1% 74.5%
Married % 62.3% 61.5%
Divorced % 7.3% 7.6%
Racial diversity index
(100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)		 19.6 71.0
From the September 2011 issue
Notes: *County data

(I) Income tax notes:
17 states have statutory provisions for automatically adjusting to the rate of inflation the dollar values of the income tax brackets, standard deductions, and/or personal exemptions. Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska index the personal exemption only. Oregon does not index the income brackets for $125,000 and over. Because the inflation-adjustments for 2011 are not yet available in most cases, the table reports the 2010 amounts, unless 2011 is specified in a footnote.
2011 income brackets for Iowa.
The personal exemption takes the form of a tax credit instead of a deduction.
Galleries and more
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Fan Favorite Food

We asked readers to share their favorite hometown dishes. Now it’s time for you to choose: The most popular dish will be named Fan Favorite!

Hometown dish Town
1. Low Cal Tex Mex Seguin, TX
2. Chile Relleno Seguin, TX
3. Super Bowl Breakfast Jamestown, CA,
4. Texas BBQ Luling, TX
5. Shrimp 'n Grits to die for! Raleigh, NC
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Fan Favorite Towns

Money picked the top 100. Now it's your turn: Which town will be our fan favorite? 'Like' your town and it might just make it to No. 1.

Town # of Likes
1. Saratoga Springs, NY 407
2. Glen Ellyn, IL 202
3. Castle Rock, CO 199
4. Mason, OH 181
5. Oswego, IL 172
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Find Your Best Places
Region
Northeast South
Midwest West
Ranking
Top 100 winners only
Population
8.4M
8,500
Home Prices
2010 median sales prices
$2.3M
$42K
How we picked the Best Places
Using statistics from data services company 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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