Cary, N.C.: Successful Suburbia

"The symbiosis between the company and the community extends beyond the front gate. Jim Goodnight, SAS co-founder and CEO, bankrolled the town’s largest developer, who built subdivision after upscale subdivision. Just as every employee works in a 10-foot-by-12-foot (3-meter-by-4-meter) office, nearly everyone in the 27513 zip code lives in a “five, four, and a door”—a two-story colonial with five windows across the top and two windows on either side of the entrance. Fifteen percent of all households include someone with an advanced degree. The crime rate is among the state's lowest for cities of its size."