Money's list of America's best small towns


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7. Liberty, MO
Liberty
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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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Is Liberty a great town, or what?
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
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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%
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Housing
Median home price $137,574 $265,929
Average property taxes N.A. $4,083
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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°
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
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.
Galleries and more
  • Homes for sale
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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
See the rest
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
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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