100 Best Places to Live 2010

[Mendoza Line]

Top small cities in the U.S. to raise a family, based on jobs, schoools, and low crime.

List compiled by Money magazine

Cities listed with population:

1 Eden Prairie, MN 64,000
2 Columbia/Ellicott City, MD 155,000
3 Newton, MA 82,000
4 Bellevue, WA 124,000
5 McKinney, TX 125,000
6 Fort Collins, CO 141,000
7 Overland Park, KS 175,000
8 Fishers, IN 69,000
9 Ames, IA 60,000
10 Rogers, AR 57,000
11 Plymouth, MN 76,000
12 Highlands Ranch, CO 98,000
13 Woodbury, MN 58,000
14 Carmel, IN 67,000
15 Eagan, MN 64,000
16 Allen, TX 84,000
17 Shawnee, KS 61,000
18 South Jordan, UT 51,000
19 Broomfield, CO 55,000
20 Apple Valley, MN 50,000
21 Missouri City, TX 75,000
22 Irvine, CA 208,000
23 Cary, NC 130,000
24 Rowlett, TX 58,000
25 Gaithersburg, MD 59,000
26 O'Fallon, MO 77,000
27 Lee's Summit, MO 89,000
28 Waltham, MA 60,000
29 Abington, PA 54,000
30 Centreville, VA 54,000
31 Rockville, MD 61,000
32 West Chester, OH 60,000
33 Loveland, CO 66,000
34 Franklin, NJ 61,000
35 Edmond, OK 83,000
36 Gilbert, AZ 216,000
37 Mentor, OH 52,000
38 Yorba Linda, CA 66,000
39 Brookline, MA 58,000
40 Chapel Hill, NC 54,000
41 Clarkstown, NY 83,000
42 Amherst, NY 115,000
43 Bolingbrook, IL 71,000
44 Coral Springs, FL 126,000
45 Orem, UT 94,000
46 Ann Arbor, MI 116,000
47 Alexandria, VA 145,000
48 Coconut Creek, FL 50,000
49 Blue Springs, MO 56,000
50 Waukesha, WI 68,000
51 Rio Rancho, NM 82,000
52 Weymouth, MA 53,000
53 White Plains, NY 57,000
54 Naperville, IL 143,000
55 West Hartford, CT 63,000
56 Mount Prospect, IL 54,000
57 Piscataway, NJ 53,000
58 Arvada, CO 107,000
59 Arlington Heights, IL 73,000
60 St. Peters, MO 56,000
61 West Jordan, UT 95,000
62 Meridian, ID 67,000
63 Pleasanton, CA 67,000
64 Shoreline, WA 54,000
65 Rocklin, CA 53,000
66 Franklin, TN 58,000
67 Stillwater, OK 53,000
68 Iowa City, IA 73,000
69 Eau Claire, WI 66,000
70 Norman, OK 109,000
71 Scottsdale, AZ 235,000
72 Wellington, FL 55,000
73 Wayne, NJ 53,000
74 Bismarck, ND 60,000
75 West Des Moines, IA 55,000
76 Roswell, GA 96,000
77 Sioux Falls, SD 161,000
78 Stamford, CT 119,000
79 Millcreek, PA 54,000
80 St. George, UT 78,000
81 Broken Arrow, OK 93,000
82 New Rochelle, NY 75,000
83 Warwick, RI 84,000
84 Bristol, CT 61,000
85 Chesapeake, VA 220,000
86 Fargo, ND 97,000
87 Hamden, CT 58,000
88 Ramapo, NY 116,000
89 Middletown, NJ 69,000
90 Norwalk, CT 83,000
91 Suffolk, VA 82,000
92 Hillsboro, OR 94,000
93 Owensboro, KY 56,000
94 Nashua, NH 87,000
95 Madison, WI 233,000
96 Appleton, WI 71,000
97 Grand Forks, ND 53,000
98 Beaverton, OR 92,000
99 Idaho Falls, ID 54,000
100 Mount Pleasant, SC 68,000

[PHILLYBIRDS20]

Mount pleasant sc is friggin great. Abington pa 28 dont really see anything great about it but oh well

[Mendoza Line]

No cities in Deleware

[PHILLYBIRDS20]

Didnt no there were any

[smet9772]

I live right next to mckinny and Allen Texas. They are up and coming cities with lots to do with cheap housing.

[The Judge]

The Happiest People
By Nicholas D. Kristof
Published: January 6, 2010
The New York Times

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica
Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used. For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations.

That’s because Costa Ricans, asked to rate their own happiness on a 10-point scale, average 8.5. Denmark is next at 8.3, the United States ranks 20th at 7.4 and Togo and Tanzania bring up the caboose at 2.6.

Scholars also calculate happiness by determining “happy life years.” This figure results from merging average self-reported happiness, as above, with life expectancy. Using this system, Costa Rica again easily tops the list. The United States is 19th, and Zimbabwe comes in last.

A third approach is the “happy planet index,” devised by the New Economics Foundation, a liberal think tank. This combines happiness and longevity but adjusts for environmental impact — such as the carbon that countries spew.

Here again, Costa Rica wins the day, for achieving contentment and longevity in an environmentally sustainable way. The Dominican Republic ranks second, the United States 114th (because of its huge ecological footprint) and Zimbabwe is last.

Maybe Costa Rican contentment has something to do with the chance to explore dazzling beaches on both sides of the country, when one isn’t admiring the sloths in the jungle (sloths truly are slothful, I discovered; they are the tortoises of the trees). Costa Rica has done an unusually good job preserving nature, and it’s surely easier to be happy while basking in sunshine and greenery than while shivering up north and suffering “nature deficit disorder.”

After dragging my 12-year-old daughter through Honduran slums and Nicaraguan villages on this trip, she was delighted to see a Costa Rican beach and stroll through a national park. Among her favorite animals now: iguanas and sloths.

(Note to boss: Maybe we should have a columnist based in Costa Rica?)

What sets Costa Rica apart is its remarkable decision in 1949 to dissolve its armed forces and invest instead in education. Increased schooling created a more stable society, less prone to the conflicts that have raged elsewhere in Central America. Education also boosted the economy, enabling the country to become a major exporter of computer chips and improving English-language skills so as to attract American eco-tourists.

I’m not antimilitary. But the evidence is strong that education is often a far better investment than artillery.

In Costa Rica, rising education levels also fostered impressive gender equality so that it ranks higher than the United States in the World Economic Forum gender gap index. This allows Costa Rica to use its female population more productively than is true in most of the region. Likewise, education nurtured improvements in health care, with life expectancy now about the same as in the United States — a bit longer in some data sets, a bit shorter in others.

Rising education levels also led the country to preserve its lush environment as an economic asset. Costa Rica is an ecological pioneer, introducing a carbon tax in 1997. The Environmental Performance Index, a collaboration of Yale and Columbia Universities, ranks Costa Rica at No. 5 in the world, the best outside Europe.

This emphasis on the environment hasn’t sabotaged Costa Rica’s economy but has bolstered it. Indeed, Costa Rica is one of the few countries that is seeing migration from the United States: Yankees are moving here to enjoy a low-cost retirement. My hunch is that in 25 years, we’ll see large numbers of English-speaking retirement communities along the Costa Rican coast.

Latin countries generally do well in happiness surveys. Mexico and Colombia rank higher than the United States in self-reported contentment. Perhaps one reason is a cultural emphasis on family and friends, on social capital over financial capital — but then again, Mexicans sometimes slip into the United States, presumably in pursuit of both happiness and assets.

Cross-country comparisons of happiness are controversial and uncertain. But what does seem quite clear is that Costa Rica’s national decision to invest in education rather than arms has paid rich dividends. Maybe the lesson for the United States is that we should devote fewer resources to shoring up foreign armies and more to bolstering schools both at home and abroad.

In the meantime, I encourage you to conduct your own research in Costa Rica, exploring those magnificent beaches or admiring those slothful sloths. It’ll surely make you happy.

[PHILLYBIRDS20]

jesus judge ur becoming the sweetleaf of costa rica lol

[Romanowski]

Originally Posted by Mendoza Line

71 Scottsdale, AZ 235,000

if quality of ladies was a bigger factor may have been #1

[Gerk]

I live right next door to Number 1, Eden Prairie, about 3 miles down the road from me.

Our biggest rivals in High School in sports,

SOB's

[jonnyblaze]

Any list about the best places to live that has a city in Minnesota as #1 is horseshit, gl.

[Gerk]

Originally Posted by jonnyblaze

Any list about the best places to live that has a city in Minnesota as #1 is horseshit, gl.

I remember going down this road before with you, so won't again, but you have never been here or just at the airport? and you thought we weren't racially diverse which is absolutely not true?

I just think it's funny how people judge without any real knowledge.

Go ahead and have at it again, I'm done

[Ricky Tan]

I like the Man Cave myself

[BigFratDaddy]

9 Ames, IA 60,000

insert upinya83 comment here

[FalconFreak]

Roswell Ga, hell no, right next door Alpharetta indeed

[dhunter]

Originally Posted by Gerk

I remember going down this road before with you, so won't again, but you have never been here or just at the airport? and you thought we weren't racially diverse which is absolutely not true?

I just think it's funny how people judge without any real knowledge.

Go ahead and have at it again, I'm done

wouldn't the weather alone keep any MN city out of the top 10. never been there but i can just imagine how brutal the winters are.