Irvine, California

Irvine

Now a vibrant city with 323,000 residents (as of 2010), Irvine, California, has come a long way during its four decades of existence. A small community of 10,000 already lived in the area when the city officially incorporated in 1971. The annual growth rate during the 1970s averaged a mind-boggling 20 percent. During the 1980s it was still a robust 8 percent, and since then, the city has continued to grow in population by 2 percent a year.

This roller-coaster ride of growth did not stop successive city governments from transforming Irvine into one of the best places to live in the country, according to CNN Money in 2008 and 2012, as well as Businessweek in 2011. And in 2012, the FBI chimed…