"Best Place to Live" in U.S.? Eden Prairie, MN

Perhaps it's the allure of its name.

But more likely, the 5.1-percent unemployment rate of Eden Prairie, Minn. pushed it to the top of the stack of Money Magazine's annual list of the 100 "Best Places to Live."

The jobless rate in this 64,000-strong suburb of Minneapolis is more than four points below the national average. It doesn't hurt that NFL running back Adrian Peterson lives there, with his team the Minnesota Vikings planting its practice facility and front office in the town. Other major employers are Fortune 500 trucking company C.H. Robinson and hearing-aid maker Starkey Labs.

"Why is Eden Prairie No. 1 this year? Not only is it family-friendly, it has a dynamite economy too," according the magazine.

Eden Prairie's 12.6-percent job growth between 2000 and 2009 is also encouraging, but compare it to the 124.3-percent rate of McKinney, Texas (fifth on the list) and it doesn't seem so impressive - the town is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, having ballooned 115 percent since 2000. McKinney's recent job growth is actually negative, according to bestplaces.net.

Rounding out the top five are Columbia/Ellicott City, Md., Newton, Mass., and Bellevue, Wash.

Photo Gallery: "Best Places to Live" 2010
America's Most Recession-Proof Cities

[alewife1]

Minnesota? Not sure about that one. But what about the WORST cities? Here's top 5 list of worst cities in the US- http://******/923XDU

[nanc12]

My son lives in Plymouth, MN - #1 on the last survey, #11 this one. 5 of the top 25 are Minneapolis suburbs. Fantastic parks system. Downside - Bachmann and her ilk. At a parade on the 4th, he watched a man forbid his 3 year old to take a balloon or candy from people walking behind Democratic candidates, telling him, "The 4th of July is a Republican holiday - the Democrats shouldn't be here, they're bad people." And when the parade was over - they left all their trash on the street. My son objected - they said there were "people to clean it up." And they probably call themselves Christians.

[seafang]

Obviously; the writer of this piece of nonsense, hasn't bought any gasoline recently; or read a thermometer in winter time up there.

With Obama's future energy from Nobel Laureate Chu's microbe fuel; you are not going to want to live in any cold place. And if you think global warming will fix that; you just haven't been reading your thermometer for the last 15 years.

[thy-only_king]

"Best Place to Live" in U.S.? Eden Prairie, MN

Population by race

White - 91%
Black - 2%
Asian - 5%
other - 2%

[X2670]

Newt Ging-Reich, is that you?

[nanc12]

Jesus would be so proud of you for that comment.

[askagain]

It makes sense that some suburbs be rated highly. The suburbs tend to have higher income and better educated residents than the cities and very small and isolated towns. Other considerations include availability of shopping, major highways, cultural opportunities, access to colleges and universities, and recreational opportunities. I live 30 minutes from Baltimore and less than one hour from Washington, D.C. thus enjoying an open rural environment, four major grocery stores with 1 1/2 miles of my home, major highways, little traffic in town, and very good schools.

[tsigili]

Once again, this story is a pure DUD! They never look at any place other than immediate suburbs of a large, major city, which frankly, is just like being in a large major city, because I am already in that situation.

They NEVER look at genuine, small communities that are TOTALLY away from big cities.....ever!

That is basically, worse than useless information.