Top Places to Live: Fishers!!!

CNN's Money Market ranked Fishers, Indiana as the 10th best place to live in the United States for 2008. Fishers moved up from 33rd for 2007's ranking.

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.

Financial City stats Best places avg. Median family income (per year) $105,067 $93,075 Family purchasing power (annual, cost-of-living adjusted) $85,525 $107,483 Sales tax 6.00% 6.57% State income tax rate (highest bracket) N.A. 5.17% State income tax rate (lowest bracket) 3.40% 2.43% Auto insurance premiums (Average for the state) $1,455 $1,791 Job growth % (2000-2007) 45.09% 18.72% Housing City stats Best places avg. Median home price $200,830 $291,949 Average property taxes (2006) $2,218 $3,886 See Fishers homes for sale See million-dollar homes Education City stats Best places avg. Colleges, universities and professional schools (within 30 miles) 12 49 Junior colleges and technical institutes (within 30 miles) 9 25 Test scores reading (% above/below state average) 34.7% 17.3% Test scores math (% above/below average) 21.0% 16.4% % students attending public/private schools (located within town limits) 94.2/5.8 89.0/11.0 Quality of life City stats Best places avg. Air quality index* (% of days AQI ranked as good) 69.1% 75.9% Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 0 2 Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 10 25 Median commute time (in minutes) 23.0 23.0 % population with commute 45 mins. or longer 9.3% 15.7% % population walk or bike to work 0.9% 3.0% Leisure and culture City stats Best places avg. Movie theaters (within 15 miles) 31 51 Restaurants (within 15 miles) 2,223 4,094 Bars (within 15 miles) 291 408 Public golf courses (within 30 miles) 181 316 Libraries (within 15 miles) 60 89 Museums (accredited by AAM; within 30 miles) 8 13 Ski resorts (within 100 miles) 2 33 Arts funding (Dollars per person of state funds spent on arts) 0.7 1.5 Weather City stats Best places avg. Annual rainfall (inches) 40.66 36.17 % clear days in the area 24 30 High temp in July ° F 84.2° 87.8° Low temp in Jan ° F 16.5° 22.9° Health* City stats Best places avg. Has health plan (% of residents) 91.8% 88.3% Body mass index (avg. for residents) 26 27 Diabetes rates (% of residents diagnosed) 5.4% 9.6% Hypertension rates (% of residents diagnosed) 19.8% 27.2% Meet the neighbors City stats Best places avg. Median age 29.9 35.9 Completed at least some college (% of residents) 87.6% 73.7% Married 70.1% 57.5% Divorced 8.1% 8.3% Racial diversity index (100 is national average; higher numbers indicate greater diversity) 50.9 104.2 Amount spent on vacations (domestic and foreign, household avg. per year) $8,542 $8,007

Data from CNN's Money Market