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Best Places to Live in 2012
In addition to the "Top Earning Towns" list released this week by CNN Money, the annual "Best Places to Live" rankings have also been released. If you are relocating soon you may want to take a peek and see if your new city lands on this list.
This year's results were a bit surprising, especially the top 25. While the Washington D.C. area continued to rank well, it was the only 'usual suspect' to do so. This years top 25 cities were dominated by three, less publicized, metropolitan markets: Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Indianapolis and Dallas. It's also worth noting that both Newton, MA and Ellicott City, MD were also ranked in the top 15 as "Top Earning Towns".
| Rank | Location | Population | Metropolitan Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel, IN | 80,100 | Indianapolis |
| 2 | McKinney, TX | 136,100 | Dallas |
| 3 | Eden Prairie, MN | 61,200 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| 4 | Newton, MA | 84,700 | Boston |
| 5 | Redmond, WA | 55,200 | Seattle |
| 6 | Irvine, CA | 213,600 | Orange County |
| 7 | Reston, VA | 60,300 | Washington D.C. |
| 8 | Columbia/Ellicott City, MD | 100,700 | Baltimore |
| 9 | Overland Park, KS | 175,300 | Kansas City |
| 10 | Chapel Hill, NC | 59,000 | Raleigh-Durham |
| 11 | Woodbury, MN | 63,600 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| 12 | Fishers, IN | 78,600 | Indianapolis |
| 13 | Allen, TX | 83,700 | Dallas |
| 14 | Eagan, MN | 64,700 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| 15 | Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ | 53,200 | Newark-NYC |
| 16 | Castle Rock, CO | 52,500 | Denver |
| 17 | Centreville, VA | 72,900 | Washington D.C. |
| 18 | South Jordan, UT | 52,700 | Salt Lake City |
| 19 | Lakeville, MN | 56,700 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| 20 | Waldorf, MD | 69,400 | Washington D.C. |
| 21 | Highlands Ranch, CO | 95,900 | Denver |
| 22 | Maple Grove, MN | 61,800 | Minneapolis-Saint Paul |
| 23 | Gaithersburg, MD | 63,400 | Washington D.C. |
| 24 | Germantown, MD | 88,000 | Washington D.C. |
| 25 | Franklin, NJ | 62,600 | Newark |