#3 again!

I love telling people that I grew up in the 3rd best place to raise your kids, and we made the list again! We're not only known for the really bad dance crew, Extreme Dance Force... Hahaha


No. 3: Naperville, Ill.

Population: 142,900

Miles from Chicago: 26

Job growth: 18.8% since 2000

Public library: Ranked No. 1 among small cities

Pros: Topnotch schools, abundant parks, a booming downtown

Con: Lots of traffic

When Pete Makris’ employer, a large winery, transferred him to an office in Chicago’s populous western suburbs last year, he and his wife Libby had their pick of towns to live in. Naperville won in a landslide. “The education and the services here just blew away any of the other places we could have chosen,” says Pete, 40. They love Naperville’s schools (they have three daughters, Olivia, 8, Anna Grace, 7, and Hope, 3), vibrant downtown and strong sense of community. “You meet incredibly nice, wonderful people almost on a daily basis,” Libby says. “And I think that’s pretty rare.”

No wonder Naperville has made MONEY’s Best Places list three times now. The walkable downtown area is packed with restaurants and shops. Residents point you toward the popular Riverwalk, a nearly two-mile brick path that follows the DuPage River’s course through town. On it you’ll pass Centennial Beach, a swim park fashioned out of an old quarry, and Millennium Carillon, a 72-bell tower that sits at the base of grassy Rotary Hill and plays music three times a day. A renovation, due to be completed next year, will make the path even more scenic.

Naperville’s proximity to Chicago—it’s just 30 miles away—is a plus, but there are plenty of jobs to be had right here. Edward Hospital and Nicor Gas employ more than 8,000 people between them, and companies such as BP America, Lucent and Tellabs have offices in town as well. Graduates of the city’s schools handily outscore state and national averages on college entrance exams. And Naperville residents like to boast that their public library is ranked the best in the nation among small cities by Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings.

On the downside, housing is pricier here than in some nearby suburbs; the typical three-bedroom, two-bath house runs $380,000. And congestion on the city’s major roads can slow traffic to a crawl. But for Kristen Bolduc, 39, a stay-at-home mother of three who moved here 16 years ago, the good things far outweigh the bad. “I’m very lucky to be raising my family in this area,” Kristen says. “We’ll never move.”

From Money Magazine (with more stats): http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL1751622.html