US News recently published their list of 150 Best Places to Live. Most of the winners are small cities – Reno, NV, came in #38 and with a population of less than half a million people. (Green Bay, WI, and South Bend, IN, tied for the smallest with populations of less than 321,000 people.)
At first glance, small population size and relative obscurity are all these 150 cities appear to have in common – they’re scattered all over the country and small populations sometimes heighten specific regional habits/characteristics. But upon reading the brief profiles of each town, a couple of very important points immediately begin to surface: they’re all economically better off than their nearest big-city counterparts, and they all boast of having fantastic schools.
Some of us, of course, are never going to give up the glamour of San Francisco or New York. But if you’re on the fence, there are plenty of good solid reasons to downsize on the glitz and upgrade on stability – and this is particularly true if you’re about to make the transition from renting to owning. You can find U.S. News full list here.

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