City of Sammamish

228th Avenue is Sammamish's main arterial.

NEW YORK - Two Northwest cities have made the top 25 in MONEY magazine's annual list of America’s Best Places to Live. Sammamish, located east of Seattle, comes in at No. 11, while Sherwood, Ore., which is about 17 miles southwest of Portland, is No. 18.

The magazine said Sammamish is a "comfortable place to raise children, with great schools and an array of organized youth activities." The city was also praised for its wetlands. On the downside - high home prices.

The magazine Sherwood's quickly growing commercial sites "offer true insight into the town's character: a juxtaposition of old and new, with reverence toward both the city's historic past and its bright, expanding future."

The magazine started with an initial list of 2,876 places that have populations between 7,500 and 50,000. That list was narrowed to a select group of towns, based on economic vitality, job availability, safety, residents' health, ethnic and racial diversity, cultural amenities, green space and other economic and quality-of-life measures. This year’s rankings also gave extra consideration to home pricing and property taxes.

Once it was clear which towns looked best on paper, MONEY reporters personally visited each, interviewing residents and community leaders to assess the town’s pride of place and sense of community.

“There’s a big difference between a gated McMansion subdivision and a town where you can put down roots and participate in a community that has a broader list of concerns than the height of the hedges,” said Craig Matters, MONEY executive editor. “The latter are the kinds of places MONEY looks for in naming America’s Best Places to Live.”

Several other Northwest cities made the top 100 - Lake Oswego, Ore. is No. 32, Camas, Wash. is No. 63, Mukilteo, Wash. is No. 69, and Silverdale, Wash. is No. 99.