Kaysville within top 25 for 'affordable suburbs'

"Come home to Kaysville," said Mayor Neka Roundy, quoting part of her city's slogan after learning Thursday that Kaysville was named by BusinessWeek magazine as one of the 25 "best affordable suburbs" in the United States.

BusinessWeek, the second-largest-circulating business magazine in the United States, teamed up with Sperling's Best Places to come up with a list of affordable suburbs near the nation's largest metro areas.

Judging was based on "a winning combination of affordability, academics, safety and culture," the article said.

With a median home price of $209,100, Kaysville is one of the most affordable suburbs on the list of 25. Weston, Fla., a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, has a median home price of $420,000, while Santa Clarita, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, has a median home price of $619,000.

"These suburbs may not have the greatest schools in the country, or the lowest crime rates, but most of them do better than average in these categories," the article said.

"That's exactly what these folks are recognizing," Roundy said. "They're identifying the things that people who live here recognize as good about our community."

Kaysville City Councilman Gil Miller, who had pointed out the article to Roundy and city manager John Thacker, said all three were shocked by the rating.

"We tell people every day that Kaysville is a slice of heaven in Davis County," Miller said.

The BusinessWeek article can be found online at www.businessweek.com.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com