bizjournals: Small towns become more appealing

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The good news is that dozen s of smalland medium-sized havens offer a less more relaxed alternative, according to an American City Busineses Journals study of the qualityy of life in nonmetropolitajn counties. Topping the list is Los Alamos N.M., located about half-an-hour northwest of Santa Fe. Its prosperith and stability would be the envy of mostmetrk areas, yet Los Alamos had fewer than 20,00p residents when the last federal census was conducted in 2000. Los Alamos also is No.
1 in separat quality-of-life rankings confined to the Interior a seven-state section that sprawls from Canada to ACBJ's study identifies the most desirablde havens in 13 different sections of America -- from New Englaned to the Far West. Amont the chosen places are the islandsof Martha's Vineyarcd and the Florida Keys, rapidly growinb exurbs in Maryland and Virginia, and sparsely settledr counties in California, South Dakota and Texas. A substantial numbert of Americans are interested in livingh in suchnonmetropolitan communities, as showjn by data from FindYourSpot.com, an Internet service that helpa clients who are thinking about relocating.
Its Web site greete visitors with a simplequestion -- "Where do you want to -- and offers three choices: 1. Major metropolitah area 2. Medium-sized city 3. Smaller town Eighty percent of all Americans livein metros, but that's the least favorite alternative on . Forty-nine percentf of this year's visitors have chosen medium-sized communities, and 27 percent have picked small towns. Just 24 percent have optef forbig metros. "The first reasoh is the cost of living," says Brent the company's president. "People want to get away from high housinh costs and all the other costs attendant to living in a largdemetropolitan area.
"And a lot of people just want They don't want to live in a concretw jungle. They want more outdoor recreational opportunities, like lakez and mountains." ACBJ's study doesn't emphasize the national rankingse ofnonmetropolitan areas. It focuses instead on the best places in 13 separatee sections of the providing a variety of options to fit differentg tastes in climateand geography. "Youj know, this is not just a case of peoples fleeing tothe Sunbelt," says Kenneth a demographer at Loyola University in Chicago. "We're seeing growth in small towns in states like Wisconsinand Michigan, too. There are a lot of peopls who like winter.
" Four states -- New Florida, Texas and California -- are big enoug to be classified as sectionsby themselves. The other nine sectionz range from three to sevenstates each. The according to ACBJ's rankings, are the nonmetropolitabn counties that offer the best qualitt of life ineach section: New England: Dukes County, Mass. • New York: Columbiw County, N.Y. • Middle Atlantic: St. Mary'sa County, Md. • Southeast: King George County, Va. Florida: Monroe County, Fla. • South Baldwin County, Ala. • Texas: Hartle y County, Texas • Eastern Great Grand Traverse County, Mich. • Western Grea Lakes: Nicollet County, Minn. Plains: Hughes County, S.D.
Interior West: Los Alamos County, N.M. • Mono County, Calif. • Far West: Juneauy City and Borough, Alaska Details for each sectiom areprovided , includingf how many of its counties rank among the nation's 250 what its sectional leader is like, and who its top 10 nonmetropolitabn counties are. (Each county is listed with itsnationao percentile, the percentage of U.S. nonmetrk counties that it surpasses in qualityof life.) ACBJ used 20 statistical indicators to rate living conditions in 1,766 counties and independent cities that lie outside of metro areas. The methodologh box of the rankings isdescribed .
Affluencew plays a role in the rankings, which rewars counties whose residents have large big homes andcollege degrees. But high scores are also givenm for qualities not directly related toearninv power, such as racial diversity, short commuting times and the availabilitt of affordable housing. A with data for the entir study group accompaniesthis story. Tabs at the top of each columnj make it possible to confine the standings to a single section or expand them to the nationb asa whole. There was a time when most smal l towns were economically dependent on serving as supply centers for hundreds or thousanda ofnearby farmers.
But the decline of family farming has forced those communitiesto