Money Magazine's Best Places to Live 2013

The economy remains Americans’ No. 1 concern. So as Money Magazine set out in search of this year’s best places to live, our data crunching and reporting paid close attention to how well towns were doing economically. Using data from Onboard Informatics and other sources, we looked at everything from unemployment rates to job growth to housing appreciation, affordability, and more.

A place, of course, is more than the sum of its numbers, so Money visited three dozen top scorers. That led us to 10 small towns (we alternate the Best Places list yearly between bigger and smaller locales) that are not only thriving, they’ve also got all you could want in a place to raise a family: plenty of green space, good schools, a strong sense of community. No question that you’ll pay up to live in some of them, but you get a lot too. | By Money Magazine

Also from Money's Best Places 2013:

Top-earning towns
25 best places for affordable homes
25 hot spots for the rich and single

(Demographic information provided by Onboard Informatics)