Best Places to Live

Money's list of America's best small cities

Commuting

Here are towns from the Best Places database with the quickest median travel time to work.

Rank	City	Median commute time (in minutes)
1	Manhattan, KS	11.2
2	Grand Forks, ND	11.4
3	Harrisonburg, VA	11.8
4	Dubuque, IA	11.9
4	Bismarck, ND	11.9
6	Ames, IA	12.0
7	St. George, UT	12.1
8	Pocatello, ID	12.2
8	Lake Havasu City, AZ	12.2
8	Corvallis, OR	12.2
11	Stillwater, OK	12.3
11	Bloomington, IN	12.3
11	Chico, CA	12.3
14	Missoula, MT	12.4
14	Auburn, AL	12.4
14	Enid, OK	12.4
17	Cheyenne, WY	12.5
18	Rochester, MN	12.6
18	Great Falls, MT	12.6
20	Bloomington, IL	12.7
20	Bend, OR	12.7
20	La Crosse, WI	12.7
20	Flagstaff, AZ	12.7
20	College Station, TX	12.7
20	Idaho Falls, ID	12.7

From the September 2012 issue

Source: Census data, Onboard 2012 projections

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 year.

City	Avg. listing price (July 2012)
1. Carmel, IN	$304,340
2. McKinney, TX	$245,917
3. Eden Prairie, MN	$413,566
4. Newton, MA	$850,117
5. Redmond, WA	$518,982
6. Irvine, CA	$904,753
7. Reston, VA	$467,934
8. Columbia/Ellicott City, MD	$406,943
9. Overland Park, KS	$278,204
10. Chapel Hill, NC	$376,660

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Video

Carmel's $5M ultimate party house

What home is complete without a casino and Star Wars-themed bar? Get an entertaining palace in Carmel, Ind., Money's Best Place to Live. Watch
Irvine's tasty food truck scene

The Lime Truck's owner serves up California fusion in his old hometown, and is a driving force behind the O.C.'s growing mobile food scene. Watch
Homes in Best Places: What $500K buys

Get a modest condo in tony Greenwich, CT, no. 29 on Money's Best Places to Live. Or a house with a sundeck in no. 94 Coral Springs, FL. Watch
Newton grows veggies - and community

At the Newton Community Farm, locals come together to help harvest, weed - and even rebuild its farmstand after a fire. Watch
Find charming homes, Texas-sized

In 2010, CNNMoney visited McKinney, now No. 2 on Money's 2012 Best Places to Live, and found it's growing fast. Watch
Eden Prairie's 'Minnesota-nice' vibe

In 2010, CNNMoney visited Eden Prairie, now No. 3 on Money's 2012 Best Places to Live, and found residents love the people and open space. Watch

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

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