Washington Co. Town Among Best To Live In Nation: Money Magazine

WOODBURY, MN — MONEY Magazine has ranked two cities in Minnesota among the best places to live in America. The magazine teamed up with Realtor.com to crunch numbers on more than 135,000 data points. And while Frisco, Texas, ranked the best place to live in America — we’re not making that up — Woodbury and Lakeville in Minnesota can now boast that they too are among the nation’s best.

MONEY ranked Woodbury 10th-best in the country, just ahead of Lower Merion, Pennsylvania and just behind Sammamish, Washington.

The magazine highlighted the parks and shopping in Woodbury as reasons it’s one of the best places to live.

Here’s what the magazine had to say:

Some crave urban bustle, some bucolic quiet — and others desire a bit of both. Woodbury, Minnesota, embodies that mix: It's home to 51 parks but sits just 15 minutes from St. Paul. Woodbury is one of the more affluent places on MONEY’s list, boasting a median family income of over $120,000. But homes are still affordable — below the median for the places analyzed this year — and both low unemployment and anticipated job growth make it a reliable destination for earners. Dotted with ponds and wooded trails, Woodbury lacks a traditional hub. But two malls offer ample options for marathon shopping, dinner out, or a dash to the grocery store.

The Woodbury Community Theatre is a local treasure, featuring shows the whole family can enjoy, as well as a “Summer of Sizzle” program for kids. Residents can’t miss the Woodbury Days Festival, held each summer. Among its eclectic events: a beach volleyball tournament, a robotics demonstration, and harmonica lessons.

Meanwhile, Lakeville ranked 28th in the country, sandwiched between Wheaton, Illinois and Peoria, Arizona. Trails and the historic downtown were cited as reasons to live in Lakeville. Here’s what MONEY had to say:

Lakeville is aptly named — although the bodies of water that freckle this town, located 27 miles south of Minneapolis, would mean far less to the community without the parks that adjoin them. All together, Lakeville maintains 100 miles of walking and bike trails; in winter, it also cuts holes in the lake ice and provides hot cocoa for a youth fishing contest.

If instead the day calls for a latte and some shopping, residents can venture to the historic downtown, where a comic book store awaits for the kids. Every summer the downtown transforms for Panorama of Progress, known as Pan-O-Prog, a weeklong festival of activities as disparate as professional wrestling and pottery making. Unemployment in Lakeville is very low, in no small part because the Twin Cities region hosts some of the country’s largest companies, including household names like Target, General Mills, and (yes, of course) Land O’ Lakes.

Here are homes for sale in Woodbury and Lakeville:

Beautiful Woodbury Home On Sale Now: Photos

Heavenly Lakeville Estate For Sale: Photos

But as great as those cities are to live in, they aren’t Frisco, located about 30 miles north of Dallas in Texas. Frisco — dubbed by MONEY as a “boomtown” — topped the list.

Below are the top 10 places to live in the U.S. according to the magazine.

1. Frisco, TX
2. Ashburn, VA
3. Carmel, IN
4. Ellicott City, MD
5. Cary, NC
6. Franklin, TN
7. Dublin, CA
8. Highlands Ranch, CO
9. Sammamish, WA
10. Woodbury, MN

The authors said Frisco, once a tiny rail town, has seen strong job growth and attracted major companies, including T-Mobile and Oracle. It became the fastest-growing city in America by the middle of last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Job growth is expanding in Texas as fast as anywhere,” Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told MONEY. “Firms are moving to provide jobs where houses are affordable, and people are moving to jobs where the cost of living is not high.”

Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, which is headquartered in Frisco, told the magazine the city’s quality of life has improved as its population has increased — something all cities can aspire to.

“The mentality here is, Let’s build the place we all want to have fun in and live in,” Pitchford said.

According to MONEY, Frisco has great weather — more than 230 clear days a year — and a median family income of about $129,000. The median home costs about $349,0000 and nearly every high schooler graduates.
Danielle Hale of Realtor.com told the magazine that while Frisco home prices are higher than most of the country, it’s a great choice for people because of its affordability to monthly income ratio.

“It’s actually lower than what we see throughout the U.S.,” she said.

A typical family in Frisco can pay off a new home more than twice as fast as those in Boston, the magazine said.

Most of the “Best Places to Live” are suburbs, Hale said, because these areas are near cities — and opportunities — and are often more affordable, meaning you can get more space for less cash. When compiling the rankings, the magazine weighted economic health, public school quality and local amenities as the most important factors. Housing, cost of living and diversity were also key factors. Click here to read the full methodology.

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Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock