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Best U.S. cities to live
Money's list of America's best small cities - 2008
CNNMoney.com
Plymouth, MN
Topnotch schools, good jobs, affordable housing, low crime, an active outdoor culture - yep, they're pretty much all here. Plymouth cou
ld have become just another Twin Cities suburb, but more than 50,000 jobs keep residents working there.
Home prices are within reason: The typical three-bedroom, two-bath house goes for $350,000. The city's main school district is ranked among the top three in the state, and for culture, Plymouth's open-air amphitheater, the Hilde Performance Center, hosts numerous summer concerts. Residents are a quick drive from the Mall of America, the nation's biggest mall.
And did we mention the outdoors? Plymouth boasts more than half a dozen sizable bodies of water. Of course, this being Minnesota, winter can be brutal: January's average low temperature is about 13°F. But when the mercury plummets, the locals get busy. In February the city hosts a Fire & Ice Festival that includes mini-golf, bowling and basketball - all right on the ice.
Fort Collins, CO
One of the first things you notice about this Rocky Mountain city is that practically every new road has a bike lane. Even the wheelless can get in on the action now that Fort Collins has a bike library: Residents and visitors can check out a bicycle for up to seven days, free. 
The city's Old Town historic district contains four microbreweries and more than two dozen restaurants. Bioscience and tech companies, including Agilent Technologies, Hewlett-Packard and Kodak, keep employment opportunities high. Colorado State University occupies a scenic spot in the middle of town. And the city just received a grant from the Department of Energy to start a solar-energy project downtown.
As for health care, the award-winning Poudre Valley Health System will soon be home to a brand-new cancer center. While the excellent schools have been overcrowded in recent years, officials have taken steps by moving some grades to different buildings.
Naperville, IL
It's no wonder Naperville has made Money's Best Places list three times now. The walkable downtown area is packed with restau
rants and shops. The popular Riverwalk is a nearly two-mile brick path that follows the DuPage River's course through town.
Naperville's proximity to Chicago is a plus, but there are plenty of jobs to be had right here. Edward Hospital and Nicor Gas employ more than 8,000 people between them, and companies such as BP America, Lucent and Tellabs have offices in town.
Graduates of the city's schools handily outscore state and national averages on college entrance exams. And Naperville's public library is ranked the best in the nation among small cities by Hennen's American Public Library Ratings. On the downside, housing is pricier here than in some nearby suburbs; the typical three-bedroom, two-bath house runs $380,000. And congestion on the city's major roads can slow traffic to a crawl.
Irvine, CA
Long before developers embraced the idea of mixed-use communities, there was Irvine. It was born in the 1960s, when the Universi
ty of California commissioned architect William Pereira to design a new campus and town. Today, its population hovers around 200,000, yet it feels much smaller thanks to its tight-knit neighborhoods and more than 16,000 acres of green space.
Families say Irvine is pretty close to perfect. The school district has won national recognition for stellar test scores, innovative curriculums, year-round schedules and open-style classrooms. The university is the city's largest employer, but some two dozen companies, from Gateway to St. John's Knits, also call Irvine home.
A big drawback: the cost of housing. A typical three-bedroom, two-bath house can run about $700,000, says Cesi Pagano, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty. But prices in Irvine have held up better than those elsewhere in Orange County, and foreclosures aren't nearly as widespread.
Franklin Township, NJ
When you hear the phrase "primeval old-growth forest," chances are New Jersey doesn't spring immediately to mind. But the state known for jokes about its mammoth turnpike does in fact boast such a pristine wilderness: a 65-acre one in Franklin Township. 
This surprising 46-square-mile municipality, home to several different villages is just an hour from Manhattan, but residents don't need to hit the big city to find jobs. There are plenty of high-tech, pharmaceutical and research and development firms in the area, not to mention Princeton just to the south and Rutgers and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to the north. And housing is a relative deal for the region. Starter homes go for less than $250,000 in the Somerset area. And the solid school system has a 95% graduation rate.
On the downside, New Jersey's tax burden is notoriously high. The township's property taxes run about $7,000 for the typical $385,000 three-bedroom, two-bath house.
Norman, OK
Sit down for lunch at Café Plaid in Norman and you'll see a little of everything: mothers with babies, students with laptops, and o
ut-of-towners visiting the University of Oklahoma across the street. People flock to Norman from around the world to study and teach - and then to stay and raise a family.
The university not only helps draw educated workers here but also serves as a major source of entertainment. When the OU Sooners play football against longtime rival, the University of Texas, Norman schools are almost always closed on Friday (you read that right) and the town packs the stadium.
If you don't love all things gridiron, console yourself with the campus' world-class art museum, which houses works by Degas, Monet and Renoir. Affordability is another plus: Starter homes go for about $135,000. While Norman hasn't had huge run-ups in housing prices, the city has also been spared the devastating downside.
Round Rock, TX
Once merely a bedroom community of Austin, Round Rock today is very much its own city thanks largely to three things: affordable housing
, excellent schools and computer maker Dell, which has established its headquarters here.
The city boasts three medical centers and a campus of Texas State University. There's a lot of shopping, from an IKEA to a premium outlet mall, and a minor league baseball team, the Round Rock Express.
Residents enjoy more than 800 acres of open space, two golf courses and 64-mile-long Lake Travis, just west of the city.
In order to fulfill the vision of the community for quality, efficient higher education opportunities, cooperation and collaboration of Round Rock’s educational institutions is critical.
Columbia/Ellicott City, MD
One of the nation's oldest settlements (it was founded in 1772), Ellicott City snuggles up to one of its newest, Columbia (a planned co
mmunity conjured up out of 14,000 acres of farmland in 1967). This duo remains a perennial contender on our Best Places list thanks to its mix of charm, comfort and careful zoning.
Historic Ellicott City's steep Main Street is lined with antique shops and teahouses, while Columbia, a cluster of nine residential villages around a town center, is home to offices of such high-powered tech companies as Arbitron, Merkle and Northrop Grumman. No wonder residents' median household income has risen more than 20% since 2000.
Though traffic can be a headache, it's easy to escape it: More than a third of Columbia's acreage has been set aside as open space, including a 950-acre nature preserve, a skateboard park and three lakes.
Overland Park, KS
Overland Park's flat terrain and grid layout don't provide much drama,
but for its residents, reasonable housing prices, good jobs and proximity to Kansas City, Mo. are excitement enough.
The city (where Sprint Nextel employs 12,000 people) recently began building a dozen soccer fields to host national tournaments - good news for local businesses. There are six major medical centers here too, and schools are among the best in the nation.
Happily, development hasn't paved over the green space: The Arboretum and Botanical Gardens covers 300 lush acres, for example.
Fishers, IN
Fishers is growing fast, attracting residents who are young (median age: 30) and smart (over 60% have a bachelor's degree or more). It has the
range of pluses common among our top 10, including a strong economy (lots of life-science companies are moving in), low home prices ($149,700 for the typical house) and good schools (they get high rankings in the state).
Though a walkable downtown is still in the planning stages, transportation is already here: Fishers started a commuter bus service to downtown Indianapolis and plans rapid transit via rail in the next two to five years.
When it comes to smart planning and sheer livability, other places could learn a lot from this little city in the Midwest.