Vienna Ranked Third on CNN's 'Best Places to Live' List

For a small town, Vienna is making big waves in the national media.

The town was recently ranked third on CNN Money's annual "Best Places to Live" list.

The major news network has released a list every year for more than 25 years, and this year chose to focus around small towns throughout the United States. For a town to qualify, it had to have a population between 10,000 and 50,000. Vienna's official population is 16,285, according to the list.

The list elaborates on why each town was ranked where it was, and it spoke highly of Vienna's intimate feel, unique shopping and historic attractions, as well as its adjacency to the major market of Washington, D.C.

"Unlike other cookie-cutter suburbs in Northern Virginia, Vienna offers walkability, a historic center, and unique businesses that give Vienna an identity all its own," the list said. "A town green anchors the community and serves as a gathering spot for local events, like the Concerts on the Green summer series. A 45-mile bike path and park built on the roadbed of a former railroad cuts right through town, and downtown is dotted with one-of-a-kind stores and homegrown eateries. The small-town feel comes with access to all the D.C. metro area attractions."

The only small towns in the nation to finish better than Vienna on the CNN list were Sharon, Ma. and Louisville, Co. Two other cities from the Washington-metropolitan area also cracked the list: Leesburg, Va. (35th) and Montgomery Village, Md. (41st).