MONEY Magazine's Best Places to Live in America

MONEY magazine announced today that Middleton, Wisconsin wins the No. 1 spot on this year’s list of America’s Best Places to Live, its annual ranking of America’s most livable towns. Middleton was followed by (2) Hanover, N.H., (3) Louisville, Colo., (4) Lake Mary, Fla., (5) Claremont, Calif., (6) Papillion, Neb., (7) Milton, Mass., (8) Chaska, Minn., (9) Nether Providence (Wallingford), Pa., and (10) Suwanee, Ga. Profiles of the top 10 and a full list of the top 100 are available online now at www.CNNMoney.com/bestplaces and will appear in the August issue of MONEY, on sale July 23.

“We are proud to name Middleton as MONEY’s top town,” said Craig Matters, MONEY executive editor. “Citizens there feel have the best of both worlds—a tight-knit community with all the cultural and economic benefits of nearby Madison. People there truly feel at home.”

In addition to Middleton’s rank as the overall #1, Hanover, N.H. was named best in the East, Louisville, Colo., best in the West and Lake Mary, Fla. best in the South.

Starting with an initial list of 2,876 places that have populations between 7,500 and 50,000, data provider OnBoard of New York City and consultant Bert Sperling of Bestplaces.net, helped MONEY’s editors narrow the list to a select group of promising towns, based on economic vitality, job availability, safety, resident’s health, ethnic and racial diversity, cultural amenities, green space and other economic and quality-of-life measures. Acknowledging what’s on readers’ minds right now, this year’s rankings gave extra consideration to home pricing and property taxes. Once it was clear which towns looked best on paper, MONEY reporters personally visited each, interviewing residents and community leaders to assess the town’s pride of place and sense of community.

“There’s a big difference between a gated McMansion subdivision and a town where you can put down roots and participate in a community that has a broader list of concerns than the height of the hedges,” said Matters. “The latter are the kinds of places MONEY looks for in naming America’s Best Places to Live.”

Rounding out this year’s “Best Places” editorial package are two additional features, “Where We’ll Live Tomorrow” which makes predictions on some future best places contenders and “Great Then, Great Now,” a look at some of MONEY’s past picks and what happened to them since being named to the list. Online at www.CNNMoney.com/bestplaces, users can access exclusive video interviews with MONEY editors and detailed stats on over 3,500 towns, view customizable maps, search and compare best places and participate in poll to determine the best big city. Users can also submit photos and videos of their own town in MONEY’s first-ever iReport.

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MONEY magazine is the nation's largest magazine of personal finance. With nearly 2 million subscribers and newsstand buyers and 7.4 million total readers, it remains twice as large as its nearest competitors. MONEY’s accessible and user-friendly articles are aimed at anyone who is responsible for making money decisions in his or her household—from seasoned investors to those who are just starting their financial lives. The magazine’s mission is to help readers make better decisions, not just in their investment portfolio, but in all areas in which life and money intersect — family, home, health, COLLEGE, career AND SMART SPENDING. MONEY, along with FORTUNE, Business 2.0, FSB: FORTUNE Small Business, and the website CNNMoney.com, is part of The Time Inc. Business and Finance Network. Time Inc. is a division of Time Warner, a leading media and entertainment company.