With all the hustle, bustle, glitz and glamour you could ever want, urban centers are hard to pass up. But for the 1.5 million readers who casted their bracket-style votes inOUTSIDE magazine’s Best Towns Competition, that's certainly not the case.
Between their "delectable dining scenes, friendly, walkable neighborhoods and unparalleled access to outdoor adventure," the top spots included in the publication's annual ranking are proudly showing what quality access to healthy eating options and green, open spaces looks like -- all while making the case for banishing the big city life.
Check out how the pre-selected towns ranked this year (on a scale of 0 to 100), and see for yourself why you don't need a major metro to live large...
Louisville, Kentucky
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Final Score: 73
Median Household Income: $44,111
Median Home Price: $139,400
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Flickr / sleepycat5
Final Score: 74
Median Household Income: $39,014
Median Home Price: $129,100
Montpelier, Vermont
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Final Score: 74
Median Household Income: $60,587
Median Home Price: $208,300
Houghton, Michigan
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Final Score: 76
Median Household Income: $23,912
Median Home Price: $130,000
Nashville, Tennessee
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Final Score: 77
Median Household Income: $45,982
Median Home Price: $165,00
Asheville, North Carolina
Flickr / Frank Swift
Final Score: 80
Median Household Income: $42,333
Median Home Price: $195,500
Provo, Utah
Flickr / ebairdâ¢
Final Score: 80
Median Household Income: $40,288
Median Home Price: $210,300
Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Final Score: 81
Median Household Income: $48,881
Median Home Price: $216,800
Missoula, Montana
Flickr / D Guisinger
Final Score: 82
Median Household Income: $39,076
Median Home Price: $238,300
Burlington, Vermont
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Final Score: 83
Median Household Income: $43,135
Median Home Price: $259,500
Anchorage, Alaska
John Greim via Getty Images
Final Score: 83
Median Household Income: $76,495
Median Home Price: $277,100
Charleston, South Carolina
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Final Score: 84
Median Household Income: $76,495
Median Home Price: $225,000
Portland, Maine
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Final Score: 88
Median Household Income: $44,487
Median Home Price: $241,700
Duluth, Minnesota
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Final Score: 88
Median Household Income: $41,311
Median Home Price: $148,600
Ithaca, New York
Flickr / James Willamor
Final Score: 89
Median Household Income: $29,230
Median Home Price: $184,400
Boulder, Colorado
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Final Score: 91
Median Household Income: $56,206
Median Home Price: $489,500
OUTSIDE worked with a rocket scientist to combine factors including access to outdoor adventure, healthy eating options, green, open spaces, unemployment rates, median incomes and an editor’s choice variable to summarize how livable a place is, with 100 being the outdoorsman’s perfect paradise.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article misidentified the beautiful city of Anchorage, Alaska. Our apologies to Alaskans everywhere.
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