ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - It looks like Ballwin just got some huge bragging rights as the "best" small city in the greater St. Louis area.
A new study by WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 to find out which ones are the best in the nation. In and around St. Louis, the west St. Louis County town of Ballwin came out on top.
The ranks were determined by 43 key indicators of livability, ranging from housing costs and school-system quality to restaurants per capita and population growth. The cities were ranked in terms of percentile, rather than Nos. 1 through 1,300.
Here's where a few area cities ranked:
Ballwin, Mo - 95th percentile
Chesterfield, Mo - 90th percentile
O'Fallon, Mo - 78th percentile
Wentzville, Mo - 77th percentile
St. Charles, Mo - 73rd percentile
Kirkwood, Mo - 71st percentile
O'Fallon, Ill - 57th percentile
Wildwood, Mo. - 56th percentile
Maryland Heights, Mo - 53rd percentile
University City, Mo - 31st percentile
Belleville, Ill - 18th percentile
Hazelwood, Mo - 15th percentile
Alton, Ill - 7th percentile
East St. Louis, Ill - 3rd percentile
Some other local towns also were ranked very high, or very low in a few specific categories. Wildwood, Mo. was No. 4 for lowest housing costs, Chesterfield, Mo. was No. 5 for highest percentage of population with a high school diploma or higher and Carbondale, Ill. was tied for last in highest percent of population in poverty.
Here's the top-20 small cities in America, according to the study:
1. Sammamish, WA
2. Carmel, IN
3. Brentwood, TN
4. Lexington, MA
5. Reading, MA
6. Zionsville, IN
7. Portland, ME
8. Milton, MA
9. Melrose, MA
10. Dublin, OH
11. Westfield, IN
12. Redmond, WA
13. Brookfield, WI
14. Arlington, MA
15. Princeton, NJ
t-16. Newton, MA
t-16. Needham, MA
18. Burlington, MA
19. Leawood, KS
20. Southlake, TX
You can see the full ranking, here.
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