MONEY MAGAZINE HAILS CARY AS A “ BEST PLACE TO LIVE” IN THE COUNTRY

CARY , NC – Cary , North Carolina has landed fifth place on Money Magazine’s list of “ America ’s Best Small Cities” as part of the 2006 Best Places to Live rankings.   Cary is the only NC community to make the Money Magazine list, which started with the consideration of more than 670 US small cities with populations greater than 50,000, but less than 300,000, and was cut to the final group of 90.  Raleigh was also named the fourth best place to live among big cities with populations greater than 300,000.  Factors affecting the rankings included job growth, affordability, risk of violent crime and property crime, quality of public schools, arts and leisure, park space, incidence of street-related ailments, and “ease of living” measurements such as commute times, divorce rates, population density and weather. 

“This is continued wonderful news for our community and a tribute to the effort that has gone into making Cary over the last 20 years,” said Cary Mayor Ernie McAlister “Recognition is due our Town staff and our partners – the Cary Chamber and our neighboring municipalities--who all work together to make great things happen in our area.”  McAlister added that “Moving forward, we want to make sure we continue to do those things necessary to make us worthy of this recognition.”

As part of the award, Cary is featured in the August 2006 edition of Money Magazine.  The Town also appeared on MSNBC’s TODAY show during today’s broadcast.

The other Money Magazine top honorees among small cities include Fort Collins , CO , Naperville , IL , Sugar Land , TX , and Columbia MD.  

The announcement comes on the heels of Frommer’s designating Cary as the seventh best place in the country to raise a family.  Money Magazine also named Cary the “hottest town” with a population over 100,000 in the East and one of the six most desirable places to live in America by Money Magazine in December 2003.  Also for the seventh year in a row, Cary was in the top ten safest cities in the country by Morgan Quitno Press.

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