The 10 Best Places to Live The GOOD Life

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"Go West (or Midwest), folks" pretty well sums up the findings of MOTHER'S first-ever Community Survey — with apologies to 19th c. newspaper editor Horace Greeley and his admonition to adventurous and ambitious youth of his day. We stopped counting the responses just before press time, and, as always occurs when we ask you for your opinion, got significantly more than we asked for. Hundreds of you not only commented upon your individual communities, but also upon the state of the nation, the quality of our air, water and soil, and the content of our character. But first things first.

The greatest percentage of respondents who are big fans of their communities are centered in:

Wisconsin, Oregon, or Washington State, or ... In select communities or areas in a broad band running up the middle of the continent from Oklahoma through Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota and into the eastern prairie provinces, and/or ... In settlements of like-minded souls far from good-job markets, and where public services (schools, police) are few or less-than-adequate by city standards, or ... Outside a small city or on the fringes of a country town.

Best of the Best

Nearly all of the top-rated areas are quiet enclaves where geographic and social amenities have naturally attracted a gathering of people for whom sharing seems more important than conspicuous consumption ... often in locations where life can be a struggle with nature. None are places you'll find in conventional magazine or TV lists of "The Best Places to Live."

Following is our readers' choice of the ten best. They are listed in no particular order. Each is unique and approaches perfection in its own way.

Oregon and Washington — the whole of both states — earn a top rating. Most readers live in small towns a short ways off I-5 that parallels the coast some 60 miles inland, connecting major cities from Vancouver, British Columbia to Portland and the California coastline. Some folks mention the rain ... lots of rain. But Margo Fukuji doesn't even notice it. She moved from California to Veneta (Lane County, Oregon, ten miles west of Eugene) and finds "fresh air, moderate climate, great for outdoor activities, a safe place to raise a family, super friendly people [and only] 4.9 percent unemployment." 'Nuff said!

Washington and Oregon are also America's most environmentally-aware (and active) states.

The Kickapoo River Valley in west-central Wisconsin is another enclave of country-cooperation. A reader with the lyrical name of Ayla Heartsong writes."This is the most satisfying place on Earth, anywhere . .. a land of broad, big-sky ridges and tight, cozy valleys," where she has lived "the most self-sufficient life (so far)." There's been a "gentle meshing of century-old family farmers and back-to-the-landers" ... and ..."shopping malls are far away, but major cities still reachable."

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