Kids & Family

San Rafael Cracks 'Most Exciting Small Cities' Rankings

Marin's Mission City ranks 11th in a national real estate research survey conducted by Movoto.com.

If you like live music and can’t stand endless parades of fast-food joints, you’d be hard pressed to find a better small city in the United States than San Rafael.

That’s according to an online research report published earlier this week by Movoto.com headlined “These Are the 10 Most Exciting Small Cities in America.”

San Rafael just barely missed the top 10, polling 11th overall. The article includes a list of the top 50 most exciting small cities out of a 140 with populations between 50,000 and 60,000.

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Movoto judged the cities in six categories categories (live music, fast food, nightlife, active life, non-fast food percentage and young residents).

San Rafael is among six California cities to make the top 50 and ranks the highest overall in the state according to the poll.

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Petaluma, which ranks 34th, is the only other Bay Area city to make the list. The other California cities mentioned are National City (32nd), La Mesa (33rd), Gardena (38th) and Arcadia (47th).

Hoboken, N.J. topped the rankings that appear to have a heavy East Coast-tilt. Only two of the top 10 cities are west of the Mississippi (No. 6 Manhattan, Kan., and No. 9 San Marcos, Texas).

San Rafael was ranked No. 3 in the live music and non-fast food percentage rank, and is the eighth most active city according to the poll.

Marin’s Mission City got dinged in the nightlife and young residents rankings, polling at 41st and 57th in those categories, respectively.


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