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Monday, July 13, 2009

The Best Small Town: Louisville, CO

CNNMoney.com has released it's list of the top 100 small towns in America and guess who is #1 on the list:
1. Louisville, CO
WINNER
Top 100 rank: 1
Population: 18,800
Unemployment: 6.0%*

Some towns nestled along the Rockies are full of pretentious eco-hipsters. Not Louisville. Ice cream shops dot the historic downtown. Families grab burgers at the cozy Waterloo Café. A Friday-night street fair, with a beer garden, live music, and games for the kids, runs all summer. No wonder this down-to-earth town has appeared high on Money's Best Places list before--and on many others.

It's also weathering the economic downturn well. Robust industries in the area, such as high tech, energy, and health care, make county unemployment among the lowest in the state.

But the top reason residents give for moving here? The great outdoors. Louisville is laced with nearly 30 miles of trails, Rocky Mountain National Park is less than an hour away, and eight world-class ski resorts are within two hours. The town's schools are highly rated as well.

Add in dry, clear weather, little crime, good health care, and low taxes, and Louisville is pretty tough to beat.

And guess where I live? Actually not quite in Louisville, but right next door. Here's a map for clarification.

View Louisville in a larger map
That's right, I live right next to the best small town in America. Take that Irvine, Urbana, Chapel Hill, and Waco.

3 comments:

  1. I'll let you have the small town award. I like to visit remote places but living in them makes me board.

    But Nick, I have to say stereotypically I couldn't think of a better place for you: conservative, low taxes, small town USA. If only you could get rid of that college campus and start carrying around a pitch fork full of pint up anger over taxes wearing a "I love Glenn Beck" shirt you would have the ultimate stereotype going on. (I want a picture by the way.)

    I on the other hand need to drive a Prius, hang out at Barnes and Noble and live in a 100% organic tree house attached to a tree that would otherwise be cut down if it wasn't for my non-violent protest eating only granola, nuts and berries.

    Actually, come to think of it, I'm sort of proud of our IOU system. They are going to make great collectors items one of these days as so few places have ever given them out.

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  2. Well, Louisville is still Boulder county, so I can't actually wear my Glenn Beck t-shirts yet, but Louisville is a lot less of a Prius-driving, granola-eating paradise than Boulder, which is fine with me.

    And I'm sure your IOU's are a lot of fun. My state just pays people with real money, which is definitely less exciting.

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  3. I should also mention that Keller, TX (100 miles north of Waco) is #7, Superior, CO (10 miles south-west of where I live) is #13, Apex, NC (just east of Chapel Hill) is #44, and Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (just east of Irvine) is #82. Sorry Bill, but the closest city to Urbana was suburb of Indianapolis. Better luck to all of you next year.

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