Best Small Cities In America: See Where Lemon Grove Ranks

LEMON GROVE, CA — Some of the country's best small cities are in San Diego County, according to a new report.

To determine the Best Small Cities in America and help people choose the perfect small place to put down roots, researchers at WalletHub crunched the numbers and compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on 45 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs to school-system quality to the number of restaurants per capita.

"Moving from a bustling metropolis to a small city could drastically cut down your cost of living. On top of that, the best small cities offer strong job markets, high-quality education, good health care, safe living conditions and plenty of local flair to help you achieve a high quality of life," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. "While small cities may lack some advantages of big cities, like robust public transportation systems, they make up for these shortcomings in other areas."

Given the large sample of cities ranked in the study, researchers at the personal finance website grouped results by percentile. The 99th percentile represents the top 1% of small cities in America.

Nine San Diego area cities made the list, including Lemon Grove, with two local communities ranking in the 70th percentile or higher.

Encinitas ranked as the best small city in the county, followed by Poway and San Marcos. Here are the San Diego area cities that made the list. Their percentile is in parenthesis:

• Encinitas (83)
• Poway (78)
• San Marcos (62)
• Santee (55)
• La Mesa (48)
• Lemon Grove (22)
• Imperial Beach (22)
• National City (17)
• Fallbrook (17)

Carmel, Indiana, ranked as the best small city in the country, followed by Brookfield, Wisconsin, and Apex, North Carolina.

Bessemer, Alabama, ranked as the worst small city in the country. The community scored in the 1st percentile.

Read the full report here.