Guess what? I live in one of the top 20. I have traveled on business extensively all over the world and learned first hand that the TC area was a great place to live.

America's Best Small Cities

I've been to 47 of the states and many foreign countries and for me good old MN is the finest place to live and raise a family.

Four cities were listed in my state and I would not want to live in any one of them. They have far too many people there with populations of 60,000 or so in one 'city'.

I live and want to live in a smaller town where there is some quiet and room.

I have nothing against Minnesota however, having been there, its way too cold most of the time.

don't see how anything near the Twin cities could be considered "small"......to me its just one BIG friggin city ..

Minnesotta? A good friend of mine had some property up there once, beautiful farm house near Ely. Lovely place and I DO love that kind of weather, but like kalifornia, no way I could leave in a people's repubic that elects the likes of Wellstone, Franken and GOuld.

A similar list came out recently that had Ogden, Utah in (I think) #5 spot nationally - but I wouldn't expect that to show up in a report written in Minnesota.

(You won't see me leaving here. It's just fine.)

Yeah, imagine a Minnesota paper listing 5 of the top 20 best small towns as being in Minnesota. Whod'a thunk it.....

I'd rather go by this list.
http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/181.html

Money Magazine is a Minnesota paper?

When I lived a few miles of dirt road outside of a town of just over 600 was about as close to any town as I would choose. Unfortunately I now live in one of 5000 or so. Town sux!

I grew up in the Worst place to live.......

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/yuba-92491-sutter-ranking.html

Sutter County is Cool place to live and is a leader in diversity.

They have Almonds (Pronounced "Am -Unds"), Hay, AND Rice.

Wild Hogs in the foothills too.

BMT

I love it here! Alot of outdoor stuff to do!

I agree. The only downside being Sacramento.

Heck, I LOVED living in Davis in the 80's.

But JEEZ, the PC stuff gets old.

BMT

I used to live in northern PA and made up my mind then. If Walmart is closer than 45 minutes, im in the wrong spot. Unfortunately where I live now, I got probably 20 within that distance

I grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado which was number one last year. I wouldn't move back to that side of the mountains for anything. I LIKE living in a western Slope town with no stoplights.

On TV some of the "good" things were bike paths, micro breweries, and the like.

My list would have a good range, close (and uncrowded) fishing, hunting (choose your species), a decent gun/reloading shop, big enough to have a doctor (old age is creeping up), not a lot of yuppies, enough winter to keep the bugs small.

Some of the good places probably would not trip many triggers on here.

As several MN campfire residents have said that MN is a great place to live, and I'm not disputing that.........


With two very big exceptions......Governor Jesse Ventura and now Al Franken. What are you guys thinking up there?????

I don't view Fort Collins as "small" or near "best," so I don't give much credence to the rankings. Bike paths and microbreweries don't do it for me, either. 25 years ago it would have been different, and more livable there.

It all depends on the parameters and even then, it's subjective...

The Twin Cities offer everything you may want/need.. For quantity/quality/variety of food/restaurants - it's excellent. Shopping? First class. Environment? Nothin' wrong there..

But add congestion? Crap.. Bad drivers? Crap.. Taxes? You can have it.. Liberals? Thick as thieves...

I'm very close to it and I'm trying to get far away from it.. Y'all can have the TC area...

I grew up an hour from the TC in WI. We used to call WI land of 10,000 Minnesotans because every weekend our town would double in size due to all of the border crossers. If MN is so great why do so many come over to WI for hunting and fishing?

In 2008 I went home to visit parents and all I saw were Obama bumper stickers in the TC.I left the area over 20 years ago to move out west. Got to be too liberal and too high on Taxes. Al Franken being elected pretty much says it all.

Used to be a great area to grow up and raise children. Too bad it is ruined.

On a positive note TEA party movement has gotten pretty strong in rural MN and WI. My childhood friend runs a local chapter.

OK, let's talk about Milwaukee.

No argument -- Almost as bad as North Murderapolis..

Good post, and RIGHT ON THE MONEY... I just wish I'd have 'moved out west' years ago.. I'm trying to make up for my mistake..

I live 30 miles from a town of 3500. And that is just about right. Town and close neighbors suck. Can't pee outside, have to be dressed to feed the dog...

I'm thinking the list was compiled by women and metro-sexuals

Grin...


Minnesota?

2008 Presidential Election




2004

Don't forget the FIB TAB weekend invasions! The tourist dollars really do support a lot of areas, though, so the city attitudes and libtarded idiots are tolerated, usually.

The small city we live in came in at #10 - Rogers, Arkansas. I guess it's a good thing for the city fathers to pound their chests about, but it just brings more people to the area. When we first moved here, only 8 years ago, Rogers was 12,000 folks short of making the "qualifying population" of 50,000 and is now at 57,000. It is a great place to live, though. Lots of outdoor stuff to do, mostly golf and boating/fishing and enough shopping to keep the bride satisfied. We'll probably be here until they pat us in the face with a shovel . . .

I live 10 miles from #9, and I can, and do, feed the dogs without getting dressed and pee in the yard. Why that town is #9 is beyond me. Can it really be so bad everywhere else?

It was all even nicer before all the damned Yankees moved in and tried to turn it into Nebraska or Illinois.

Break those maps down by county rather than just by state.

Muuuuuuccch more revealing!

In both polls I perused, noticed that NO intermountain communities were listed except CO and MT. NONE! What kind of bias and schitt is that?

One poll said my town in Woorsheengton state is #8. Bull-roar! I'd be happy to trade this liberal "small town"-cesspool for the remotest, windy cold spot in Wyoming!

Money Magazine, Smart Money, USA Toady and other publications each year select the "best places to live in America". However, the selected cities are never in the rankings for the next year or any future year. I live in a town that was ranked 4th best several years ago and has not been listed since.

In talking with a county business developer, I was told that these listings are beauty contests with tons of money spent on marketing the town to the publications. She said that she know of several areas that had a public employee whose full time job was to market the area to these magazines and get favorable listings.

That is so friggin true. I was peeing outside the house the other day and the wife asked why don't use the toilet. My response was because I can and the dogs do it! Feed the chickens in the morning in my undies too. Love the freedom

Big plus to having the nearest neighbor a mile away

We moved from Nebraska for a reason (besides the bride's job). I don't want to turn the area into Nebraska and darn sure not Illinausea. We can't even get the northern relatives to visit once in a while. I think they are afraid of getting caught in midst of the second rise of the South .

Minnesota boy here, and while I love the state I wouldn't pick any of the five listed in my top ten. Four of them, including No. 1 Eden Prairie are southern ring suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul. The only way to know you're leaving one city and entering the next is by the 'Welcome to...' sign.

They are nice places to live, but don't hold a candle to many towns within a couple hour drive of the metro area. I started to type out a list of better "small cities" but it got too long quick.

For those not from around here, a liberal from out-state Minnesota has the same views as a republican in many states. Most of those folks vote the way their parents did - for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). Also like many other states, the urban population of the metro area trumps the generally conservative rural areas in statewide elections.

I'll leave east of the Mississippi,(well almost) and west of the Rockies to someone else. Here's my choices. If you like to fish, shoot or hunt, follow me.

1) LaCrosse, WI

2) Port Aransas (Corpus Christi), TX

3) Watertown, SD

4) Baton Rouge, LA

5) Devils Lake, ND

6) Ruidoso, NM

7) Woodward, OK

8) Brainard, MN

9) Greenbay, WI (throw in top tier professional sports)

10) Bull Shoals lake, not a specific "city".

There are the TC and the rest of Minny; the TC are no way representative of the rest of the state which is comprised if neat, clean towns, woods, and some of the best fresh water fishing available in all of America. These are not the people who elected Al Frankin. As usual it is the liberal urban centers that hold sway--two cultures that are as disparate as the East Coast and Middle America.

Guys..the Magazine ranked cities 50k to 300K. Small towns are wonderful and better, but not in the parameters of their polling. As for MN politics you gotta remember Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty. Tim could very well be the next repub potus. I will admit that this a great place to raise kids but I'll be damned if I can figure out a way to retire here.

Yea, but I'm trying!

You can break them down by street address, don't change the fact that there are more brain dead then not in the state.

ALL the best places to live are up North . Y'all that are there , stay there . All the rest of you that talk funny , go there !

I worked in TX last Summer in Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Loved the people and the politics of the general pop.TX is a wonderful state for business just a big lacking of of public land for hunting. Plus I just could not take the heat and humidity from May to Sept!! I caught a lot of big red fish though!!