18. Boulder, CO

 Population: 278,000

Boulder is home to a thriving community of start-up companies, Internet companies, and venture capitalists.

What also makes Boulder a great place to live and work is its close proximity to Denver. Boulder offers the beauty of blue skies, clean mountain air and some of the greatest adventure opportunities in the land, with the Rockies as a background playground, this is the right place for outside enthusiasts.

It is a mere 29 miles from Denver, which makes it very convenient for Boulder residents to enjoy the fun of the big city. This, combined with its outstanding education (many of the schools maintain a 90+ student reading efficiency rating), stable economy and great quality of life, makes Boulder a perfect round up of the top 20 cities to live and work.

The key industries located in and around Boulder are: Information technology; education; healthcare; manufacturing.

NOTABLE EMPLOYERS: University of Colorado; IBM; Boulder Valley School District; Sun Microsystems; StorageTek; St. Vrain School District; Ball Corporation; Boulder Community Hospital; EDS; Level 3 Communications; Federal Labs; City of Boulder; County of Boulder; Maxtor; NCAR; Longmont United Hospital; Longmont Foods; Seagate Technology; ValleyLab; Hunter Douglas Window Fashions; Safeway;(source:www.bestjobsusa.com)

      Boulder-Longmont, CO Unemployment Rate:

Month	Year	Unemployment Rate
January	1994	4.4%
January	1999	3.0%
January	2004	5.2%