Notes:
*County data
(3) Crime incidences are estimates based on FBI 2009 Universal Crime and incidence reports, OnBoard analysis.
(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. In Michigan, includes an additional exemption of $600 for children age 18 and under. Tax rate scheduled to decrease to 4.25% on 10/1/11.
c = Only cities with populations between 8,500 and 50,000 were eligible for this year's Best Places to Live list.
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.)
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