The question of "What is the meaning of life?" may not provide the most revealing answer, Grasshopper.

To discover the higher meaning of the human condition you must ask, "Where is the meaning of life?"

For just as it is in real estate, real value often lies in the location.

That's the gospel according to Rich Karlgaard, second in command to Steve Forbes and publisher of Forbes magazine. He recently wrapped up a two-year Cessna-driven, cross-country quest for the simple, but good life and found it in 150 towns spread out across the nation.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, trying to make good on a Year 2000 prediction that the housing market was done, only to see values rise by 35 percent in the five years since, Forbes magazine remained on a quest for the most vulnerable housing markets.

Economy.com recently supplied Forbes magazine with income, home price and affordability data going back to 1980 for 12 major metropolitan areas to develop an index that shows what percentage of a median home a family can afford with the median income.

On the other hand, happiness, to Karlgaard, is a town where mental meltdown -- too often caused by an underlying fear of a bursting bubble -- is not a way of life.

That eliminates places like Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco -- towns Forbes magazine says, not surprisingly, are most tightly gripped by bubble terror.

Happiness is more often places like Bozemon, Montana, where Karlgaard says he would live if he could give up his affluent Los Altos, CA lifestyle. Alas, practicing what you preach isn't a prerequisite for preaching.

You can find some joy in populous places like Las Vegas, Nevada, and Denver, Colorado, says Karlgaard, but true happiness is more often small town America where the living is easy and life is good. It's where the cost of housing remains affordable, public schools work, road rage doesn't exist -- well, except perhaps, for road kill -- you don't have to take out a second mortgage to finance country club memberships and the local economy is likely to out-perform economies in larger, denser population centers.

Why, with the money you save, you can go to Disneyland as often as you like.

Now that's true happiness.

Inspired by feedback from a column about small towns, Karlgaard's 24-month quest for the kind of home town happiness more often found in the movies culminates with a list of 150 burgs posted in his yet to be released "Life 2.0 How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding The Where of Their Happiness" (Crown Business, $24.95).

That means you have to buy the book to get the whole scoop on Happy Town.

He's organized those towns to die for -- or in -- into six categories and recently released a sample to help get you started living right.

• Porch Swing Communities -- Family Friendly Cities: Ashland, OR; Bismark, ND; Des Moines, IA.

• Happy Hootervilles -- Best Small Towns: Bisbee, AZ; East Stroudsburg, PA; Grants Pass, OR.

• IQ Campuses -- Emerging Biotech, Infotech Centers: Albany, NY; Ann Arbor, MI; Lawrence, KS.

• Steroid Cities -- Fast-Growing, Business-Friendly Metros: Austin, TX; Colorado Springs, CO; Las Vegas, NV.

• Bohemian Bargains -- Inner Cities With Verve: Baltimore, MD; Denver, CO; Raleigh, NC; St. Paul, MN.

• Telecommuting Heavens -- Work In Your Underwear: Albuquerque, NM; Bend, OR; Burlington, VT.

" ... Two years ago, I set out by small airplane to travel across and collect the stories of Americans who had sought saner lives in smaller communities. I am convinced these stories will inspire millions of Americans who feel trapped by the high costs and stresses of urban and suburban living," says Karlgaard.

Published: June 7, 2005

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.