Three Massachusetts towns were listed among a recent study's 10 best small U.S. cities
Lexington, Needham and Milton, Massachusetts were listed in the top-10 of WalletHub's "Best Small Cities in America" for 2020.
The cities were rated by a total score and also listed several other categories including "affordability" rank, "economic health" rank, "education & health" rank, "quality of life" rank and "safety" rank.
Lexington (73.01) ranked second, trailing only Sammamish, Washington (73.05), according to the list. Needham (71.06) was fourth and Milton (70.33) was sixth. According to the study, Milton had the third-lowest crime rate and tied for the highest percent of insured population among the 100 cities considered.
Arlington, Brookline and Melrose, Massachusetts were also featured in the top 100 list. Somervile was not listed in the top 100, but did tie for the highest income growth of the cities reviewed.
WalletHub compared a total of 1,200 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on 43 key indicators of livability, which range from housing costs to school-system quality to restaurants per capita.
WalletHub grouped cities by percentile given the large sample of cities ranked in the study, with the 99th percentile representing top 1 percent of small cities in America.
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