Mountain View and Cupertino Named to Top 5 of Forbes America’s Top 25 Towns To Live Well

Mountain View and Cupertino were recently named by Forbes magazine as two of the top towns in the U.S. in which to live well.  Teaming with Forbes,  ZoomProspector.com, a San Francisco-based consulting firm that specializes in corporate relocation ranked Mountain View fourth and Cupertino fifth. 

The study looked at “towns” with populations under 100,000 residents and ranked them according:

 “to median income; average commute; distance to highways and airports; per capita venture capital funding; per capita number of small businesses, sole-proprietorships and start-ups; the percentage of the population with bachelor’s degrees or higher; the share of professional-level workers as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); the percentage of young and educated people, or those 25-34 with a bachelor’s degree or higher; and the percentage of foreign-born residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher. We also measured the per capita number of restaurants, bars, museums and cultural institutions. “

Below is what Forbes said about Mountain View:

Population: 70,960
Location:South of Palo Alto on the Bay Area peninsula.
Median income: $88,736

Strongest categories: While there’s plenty more to Mountain View, the average commute time of 20 minutes is a rarely found pleasure of Bay Area living. Credit Mountain View’s standing as our most active venture capital markets, for an abundance of entrepreneurs running their own businesses, which in turn means they don’t have to commute to bigger cities like San Jose and San Francisco.

Drawbacks:There aren’t a lot of restaurants, music venues, museums or cultural attractions in Mountain View, though it isn’t too far for residents to trek 15 miles into San Jose.

Below is what Forbes said about Cupertino:

Population: 50,572
Location: South of San Francisco and west of San Jose.
Median income: $128,149

Strongest categories:A great start-up environment in the heart of the Silicon Valley and home to a number of semiconductor and technology companies, most notably Apple, Cupertino succeeds as a mix of a place for established businesses and small shops. It ranks in the top 10 for sole proprietors and small businesses per capita.

Drawbacks:While you certainly can’t complain about the warm climate, Cupertino simply didn’t do as well as the top cities on our list even in the categories considered its strengths.

In San Mateo County, Foster City was ranked 10th, Belmont 11th, and Hillsborough 12th.