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| Median income: $69,400 Cost of living score (average=100): 93.9 Student-friendly rank: 20th (among college towns) Independent business score (average=100): 91.3 Unemployment: 3.3% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Looking for a new beginning for the new year? The Daily Beast crunches the numbers to find the best places in America for reinvigorating your life and career. For the second-annual ranking of the best cities in which to start over, The Daily Beast considered six data points, equally weighted, for more than 200 metropolitan areas: • Small-business friendliness, based on Civic Economics and the American Book Association’s Indie City Index, a study of the vitality of independent retail in U.S. metropolitan areas. • Ease of finding a job, based on September 2011 unemployment figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. • High income level, based on median income figures for 2011, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, accessed via Fannie Mae. • Low cost of living, based on the Council for Community and Economic Research's Cost of Living Index for the third quarter of 2011, in which a 100 is the average for all places and each city's index score is a percentage of the average. • Nonprofit friendliness—nonprofits are a key job source—based on Charity Navigator's ranking of the top 30 cities that are most charity-conscious. • Student friendly—key for retraining—based on the American Institute for Economic Research's 75 Best Colleges for Students, which ranks small, medium, and large cities, as well as college towns, in terms of academic environment, quality of life, and professional opportunity. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $69,400 Cost of living score (average=100): 93.9 Student-friendly rank: 20th (among college towns) Independent business score (average=100): 91.3 Unemployment: 3.3% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $106,100 Cost of living score (average=100): 147.5 Student-friendly rank: 3rd (among major metros) Independent business score (average=100): 104.6 Unemployment: 6.1% Charity-conscious rank: 10th (out of 30) (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $74,500 Cost of living score (average=100): 90.8 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 81.9 Unemployment: 5.6% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $70,100 Cost of living score (average=100): 93.7 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 97.2 Unemployment: 5.6% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $70,600 Cost of living score (average=100): 88.5 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 72.1 Unemployment: 4.4% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Dave Weaver) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $91,700 Cost of living score (average=100): 138.6 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 120.7 Unemployment: 5.8% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Sam Harrel ) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $68,200 Cost of living score (average=100): 94.8 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 121.9 Unemployment: 7% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $66,200 Cost of living score (average=100): 90.2 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 101.3 Unemployment: 6.6% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/George Frey) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $86,300 Cost of living score (average=100): 102.2 Student-friendly rank: 2nd (among college towns) Independent business score (average=100): 112.8 Unemployment: 6.8% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $75,700 Cost of living score (average=100): 122.0 Student-friendly rank: 16th (among college towns) Independent business score (average=100): 123.6 Unemployment: 4.2% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Toby Talbot) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $70,600 Cost of living score (average=100): 90.5 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 99.2 Unemployment: 6.9% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $66,200 Cost of living score (average=100): 88.8 Student-friendly rank: 10th (among midsize metros) Independent business score (average=100): 114.1 Unemployment: 8.5% Charity-conscious rank: 26th (out of 30) (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $75,100 Cost of living score (average=100): 101.7 Student-friendly rank: 3rd (among college towns) Independent business score (average=100): 109.9 Unemployment: 4.4% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $60,300 Cost of living score (average=100): 88.3 Student-friendly rank: N/A Independent business score (average=100): 115.7 Unemployment: 6.8% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (iStockphoto) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Median income: $74,900 Cost of living score (average=100): 93.3 Student-friendly rank: 2nd (among midsize metros) Independent business score (average=100): 134.2 Unemployment: 7.4% Charity-conscious rank: N/A (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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