Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small towns

7 of 100

7. Liberty, MO

Vote for this town as fan favorite: Thanks for liking one of Money's Best Places to Live. Now take charge of your financial life: Like Money magazine on Facebook for analysis and advice you can trust. WINNER Top 100 rank: 7 Population: 29,100 Unemployment: 7.6%* Compare Liberty to Top 10 Best Places Known to tourists as the town where Jesse James’ gang staged its first daytime bank robbery--and where Mormon prophet Joseph Smith languished in jail before fleeing west--Liberty today is a charming place with a quick commute to Kansas City’s mix of jobs in telecom, engineering, and life sciences. The school district is consistently ranked as one of Missouri’s best; student musicians play in a new state-of-the-art facility, and budding broadcast journalists have their own public-access channel. William Jewell College, with its lovely hilltop campus overlooking Liberty, lets residents take advantage of many cultural offerings. --Vanessa Richardson Subscribe to Money Magazine Fan Favorite Towns It's your turn to choose. Which town should be No. 1? Fan Favorite Foods Share your town's specialty and pick your top dish.

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WINNER

Top 100 rank: 7
Population: 29,100
Unemployment: 7.6%*
Compare Liberty to Top 10 Best Places

Known to tourists as the town where Jesse James’ gang staged its first daytime bank robbery--and where Mormon prophet Joseph Smith languished in jail before fleeing west--Liberty today is a charming place with a quick commute to Kansas City’s mix of jobs in telecom, engineering, and life sciences. The school district is consistently ranked as one of Missouri’s best; student musicians play in a new state-of-the-art facility, and budding broadcast journalists have their own public-access channel. William Jewell College, with its lovely hilltop campus overlooking Liberty, lets residents take advantage of many cultural offerings. --Vanessa Richardson

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Liberty stats

	City stats	Best places avg.
Median family income (per year)	$77,429	$99,975
Job growth % (2000-2010)*	11.98%	24.63%
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Median home price	$137,574	$265,929
See Liberty homes for sale
Test scores reading (% above/below state average)	43.6%	25.1%
Test scores math (% above/below average)	45.4%	24.7%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)	1	1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)	18	16
Restaurants (within 15 miles)	1,515	2,758
High temp in July ° F	87.5°	84.1°
Low temp in Jan ° F	17.1°	20.9°
Median age	35.9	36.35

Financial	City stats	Best places avg.
Median family income (per year)	$77,429	$99,975
Family purchasing power (annual, cost-of-living adjusted)	$79,252	$95,706
State sales tax	4.23%	5.75%
State income tax rate (highest bracket)	6.00%^I	7.37%
State income tax rate (lowest bracket)	1.50%^I	3.13%
Auto insurance premiums (Average price quotes, for the state)	$1,401	$1,687
Job growth % (2000-2010)*	11.98%	24.63%
See jobs near Liberty
Housing
Median home price	$137,574	$265,929
Average property taxes	N.A.	$4,083
See Liberty homes for sale
Education
Colleges, universities and professional schools (within 30 miles)	16	28
Test scores reading (% above/below state average)	43.6%	25.1%
Test scores math (% above/below average)	45.4%	24.7%
% students attending public/private schools (located within town limits)	95.7/4.3	92.1/7.9
Quality of life
Air quality index* (% of days AQI ranked as good)	77.0%	78.5%
Personal crime incidents (per 1,000)	1	1
Property crime incidents (per 1,000)	18	16
Median commute time (in minutes)	20.0	23.3
% population with commute 45 mins. or longer	7.6%	15.4%
% population walk or bike to work	2.7%	2.6%
Leisure and culture
Movie theaters (within 15 miles)	28	30
Restaurants (within 15 miles)	1,515	2,758
Bars (within 15 miles)	178	208
Public golf courses (within 30 miles)	101	165
Libraries (within 15 miles)	40	74
Museums (accredited by AAM; within 30 miles)	2	10
Ski resorts (within 100 miles)	1	16
Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts)	2.3	1.2
Weather
Annual rainfall (inches)	43.14	39.07
% clear days in the area	33	27
High temp in July ° F	87.5°	84.1°
Low temp in Jan ° F	17.1°	20.9°
Meet the neighbors
Median age	35.9	36.35
Completed at least some college (% of residents)	65.0%	74.5%
Married %	56.8%	61.5%
Divorced %	11.0%	7.6%
Racial diversity index (100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity)	32.8	71.0

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More financial, housing, school, quality of life stats

From the September 2011 issue

Notes: *County data

(I) Income tax notes:
The deduction for federal income tax is limited to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for joint returns in Missouri and Montana, and to $5,850 for all filers in Oregon.

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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

See the rest

Find Your Best Places

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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Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small towns