Bellevue has another Top Ten award. Money Magazine has named it the fourth Best Small Cities in the country in which to live.

The city was praised for its forested cityscapes, a lower-than-average jobless rate, a diverse population, great schools and an abundance of of arts and entertainment activities.

Bellevue trailed Eden Prairie, MN; Columbia/Ellicott City, MD; and Newton, MA. Rounding out the Top Ten are McKinney, TX; Fort Collins, CO; Overland Park, KS; Fishers, IN; Ames, IA; and Rogers, AR.

So, how did Money Magazine pick the best cities (it named its top 100)?

According to Money’s website, it crunched a variety of numbers to come up with the best small cities for families by first looking at all U.S. cities with population of 50,000 to 300,000.

It excluded places where the median family income is more than 200 percent or less than 85 percent of the state median and those more than 95 percent white.

Also screened out were retirement communities, towns with significant job loss, and those with poor education and crime scores. The remaining places were ranked on housing affordability, school quality, arts and leisure, safety, health care, diversity, and several ease-of-living criteria.

Next came a look at additional economic data including fiscal strength of the government, jobs, housing, and schools. Economic factors were weighted most heavily.

Finally came visits to the cities, interviews with residents, assessing traffic, parks, gathering places and intangibles like community spirit.

I’ve never visited those other cities in the Top Ten, but I think it would be hard to find a better place to live than here.

I grew up in Seattle before Bellevue was even a berg, much less a city (it was incorporated in 1953). I first moved to Bellevue in 1968 to take a job at the Bellevue American newspaper, the predecessor (through a lot of mergers and name changes) to the Bellevue Reporter. Short of a few stints in Kent, Tacoma and Port Angeles, I’ve lived here ever since.

Without question, Bellevue has changed over those years, but I like what it has become. It has matured from a mostly white, middle-class suburb to a richly diverse city with a vibrant lifestyle.

Nearly a fourth of the residents here are Asian. Nearly a third are foreign born.

Nearly a third of the students in the public school system speak a first language other than English, yet all five of its mainstream high schools annually place in the list of Top 100 in the nation.

The city has a well-known summer jazz festival, one of the country’s largest arts and crafts festivals, a fabulous botanical garden and 74 parks.

Yes, it’s got more traffic now, but crime remains low. Some homes are very expensive, but apartments for low-income people are available.

Yes, there are millionaires, but many residents are recent immigrants just starting to build their life in the United States.

We have the only Neiman Marcus in the state, but there also are discount shops and consignment stores.

So congratulations to Bellevue. With everything we’ve got, there’s something for everyone.