"If you focus only on the averages, life in the typical American town frankly doesn't seem so hot right now. The median home continues to lose value. Cash-strapped state and local governments are cutting services. And unemployment, at 9.3%, is still high.The details:
But those bummer statistics obscure one important-and encouraging-fact: There are plenty of outliers. MONEY found them through its annual search for the best places in America, which this year focused on the nation's small cities (those with populations of 50,000 to 300,000). Reporters crunched reams of data to find the optimal combo of job opportunities, fiscal strength, top-notch schools, low crime, good health care, lots to do, and many other factors that help make a town great for raising a family."
10. Rogers, AR
Population: 57,000
Unemployment: 5.8%
Pluses: Low cost of living, diversity
Minus: Strip malls
If you're inclined to dismiss a small city in Arkansas as a backwater, you're making a big mistake. Rogers is right next door to Bentonville, where Wal-Mart is headquartered.
Given the power of the retail behemoth, many Fortune 500 firms that sell it their wares have moved executives to the area. Lots of them have settled in Rogers, giving it a cosmopolitan feel. (Wal-Mart's CEO, Mike Duke, also calls Rogers home.)
They're drawn by top-notch schools and outdoor activities, including swimming and wakeboarding on the town's two lakes and golfing on its five courses.
(Not all is picture perfect: Rogers does contain some rundown areas.) Though Wal-Mart has had layoffs in recent years, the jobless rate here remains low.
To see the whole article, click here. We kind of like it too ;)
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