Where are the best small cities in Dayton area?

The busy streets and bright lights found in a big city aren’t exactly for everybody, contrary to the urbanization trend that appears to be the popular opinion.

There are some great aspects to living in a smaller city -- there can be less traffic, less crime, and fewer people competing for jobs, not to mention the cost of living isn't as much as it is in a large metropolis.

WalletHub recently compiled a list of America's best small cities in 2016 where they compared 1,268 cities with a population between 25,000 and 100,000.

They used five key dimensions: affordability, economic health, education and health, quality of life and safety.

These five dimensions were then evaluated using 30 relevant metrics from “housing costs” to “unemployment rate” to “number of museums per capita.”

These cities were then ranked in percentiles, the 99th percentile representing the top 1 percent of small cities in the U.S.

The three cities that topped their list include Westfield, Ind., Princeton, N.J., and Leawood, Kan.

Here are seven Dayton-area cities that appeared on WalletHub's list:

TY GREENLEES / STAFF

Beavercreek

Percentile: 85

Total score: 62.31

Affordability rank: 118

Quality of life rank: 835

Troy

Percentile: 64

Total score: 58.89

Affordability rank: 460

Quality of life rank: 394

Kettering

Percentile: 62

Total score: 58.55

Affordability rank: 409

Quality of life rank: 1,066

Fairborn

Percentile: 58

Total score: 57.93

Affordability rank: 756

Quality of life rank: 672

Huber Heights

Percentile: 54

Total score: 57.46

Affordability rank: 268

Quality of life rank: 1,080

Xenia

Percentile: 37

Total score: 54.65

Affordability rank: 573

Quality of life rank: 1,014

Springfield

Percentile: 16

Total score: 50.27

Affordability rank: 868

Quality of life rank: 475

About the Author