American Notes CITIES

Where can you find 2% to 4% unemployment, world-renowned medical specialists and plenty of leisure activities? The Danbury, Conn., area, community of 158,000 the best place in the U.S. according to a Money magazine survey. Money asked subscribers to weigh 50 factors such as low crime, real estate appreciation, schools, climate, transportation, parks and medical care on a scale of one to ten, and then used Census data to find out which metropolitan areas met those criteria.

Danbury is followed by other New York exurbs: central New Jersey's Middlesex, Hunterdon and Somerset counties; Norwalk, Conn.; and Long Island. Then come San Francisco; Nashua, N.H.; Los Angeles-Long Beach; Orange County, Calif.; Boston; and Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey. At the bottom of the list: Jackson, Mich., and Atlantic City.