We've got you surrounded: Cities within cities

Piedmont, Calif.

Surrounded by Oakland, Calif., Piedmont was established after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Today, outsiders may recognize Piedmont for its annual bird-calling contest, featured on "Late Show with David Letterman." But San Francisco-area residents know Piedmont better for its good school district and low crime rate.

"Everyone moves here for the schools, so it's very family-oriented," says Georgia Cornell, a local real-estate agent.

It's also compact: Piedmont's widest point is 1.8 miles, so kids often walk and ride their bikes around town.

Population:10,667

Median sale price: $1.14 million

Median household income: $167,674

Owners versus renters: 88.3% own, 11.7% rent

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Norridge, Ill.

Many Chicago residents may not know that Norridge is not a neighborhood but a separate city surrounded by the Windy City.

Created after World War II to serve the housing needs of veterans, Norridge later became home to blue-collar workers, firefighters, police officers and city workers. During the real-estate boom, the town changed as developers razed many of its original, smaller residences and built bigger homes.

Until 2010, residents paid no property taxes, and the city offered free 911 service and garbage collection. How? "We invested money and spent well," Mayor Ron Oppedisano says.

Population:14,572

Median sale price: $193,000

Median household income: $51,906

Owners versus renters: 81.9% own, 18.1% rent

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University Heights, Iowa

University Heights is a community of 492 homes, one restaurant and three offices. The town is surrounded by Iowa City, the state's sixth-largest city, with 67,000 people.

"University Heights is tiny, tiny, tiny," real-estate agent Lou Ann Lathrop says of the town's size, 0.25 square miles.

Home values in University of Heights range from $131,000 to $307,000, and homes may be priced slightly higher than those in comparable areas of Iowa City, Lathrop says.

"University of Iowa is one of our largest employers, and you can walk (to campus) from University Heights," she says. "It's just a block or two away."

It's a quiet town, outside of the boisterous fans who pass through to watch University of Iowa football games at nearby Kinnick Stadium.

Population: 1,051

Median sale price: $222,500 (includes parts of Iowa City)

Median household income: $68,886

Owners versus renters: 68.8% own, 31.2% rent

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Beaux Arts Village, Wash.

Surrounded by the city of Bellevue, Wash., Beaux Arts Village was founded as an artists' colony in 1908. The town's 124 homes sit on tree-lined, one-lane streets with addresses marked by white pickets in front.

"It gives the feel that you're going out to a cottage," Mayor Richard Leider says.

Becoming a resident isn't easy. Turnover in the housing market is limited, says Nick Glant, a local real-estate agent. Leider says he waited three years to buy a house in the village. He wrote letters to all homeowners offering to buy their houses before a property went up for sale in 1998. Leider offered $10,000 above the asking price, or $810,000, the day it went up for sale.

The best outcome from that deal? "I know everyone on my street," he says.

Population:299

Median sale price: $567,500 (includes parts of Bellevue)

Median household income: $122,083

Owners versus renters: 92% own, 8% rent

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Highland Park, Texas

With homes priced as high as $24 million, Highland Park is the 40^th-wealthiest city in the United States, and Newsweek ranked Highland Park High School as the 31^st-best high school in the country last year. The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom house at left, for example, is listed for sale for $5.99 million through DPMfinehomes.com.

The bulk of the town's revenues go toward police and fire protection: Fifty-five police officers patrol the 2.3-square-mile town. "It's double what you need for a town this size," town administrator Bill Lindley says.

To outsiders, Highland Park appears to be another Dallas suburb. But to residents, Highland Park feels like small-town America in the midst of a busy metropolis. Many of their parents grew up there.

"It has a Mayberry feel," Lindley says. "Everybody knows everybody. It's akin to a freestanding rural community, but it's right here wrapped around a major metropolitan city." 

Population: 8,564

Median sale price: $210,305 (includes parts of Dallas)

Median household income: $228,106

Owners versus renters: 82.1% own, 17.9% rent

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Highland Park, Mich.

While Highland Park, Texas, is abundantly wealthy, the city with the same name in Michigan falls at the other end of the spectrum.

Surrounded by Detroit, Highland Park was the scene of the 2008 Clint Eastwood movie "Gran Torino" and once was the headquarters of Chrysler Corp. Ford Motor Co. also had a presence here; its former plant is a National Historic Landmark. The factory dates back to Highland Park's heyday, when many autoworkers lived in the area.

Today, with parts of the city blighted by foreclosures and abandoned, burned-down buildings, the city government has struggled to stay afloat. When the city failed to pay its bills a few years back, the streetlights were shut off. Two years ago, Highland Park did not even have a police force.

Local real-estate agent Tom Epperson says he sees opportunity for investors to buy a historic three-story home and fix it up. But even renovated homes can be problematic. Epperson says he has one client who invested $80,000 to restore a five-bedroom home in the city, only to see it appraised for just $50,000.

"If it were five years ago," he says, "we could get $180,000 or $200,000 offers all day long."

Population: 11,776

Median sale price: $51,095

Median household income: $20,205

Owners versus renters: 37% own, 63% rent

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Borough of Princeton, N.J.

People sometimes say the Princeton area is like a doughnut, says Barbara Blackwell, a local real-estate agent. The Borough of Princeton is the hole, she says, while Princeton Township, N.J., is the doughnut. The borough is a tiny town comprising Princeton University, two theaters, an arts council, the university museum and a train line direct to New York and Philadelphia.

For 40 years, residents voted down proposals to merge with the township. "It was kind of the snob factor of wanting to stay separate," Blackwell says. "And there was a question of whether it would hurt the value of home prices," which run as high as $3 million.

But this past fall, voters approved a measure for the township and the borough to become one city this year. Together, the two cities hope they will avoid duplication and save $3.1 million in annual costs, or $200 to $400 in tax savings per homeowner.

"We won't need duplicative staff positions, three copy machines (and) two bucket ladders for public works," says Chad Goerner, mayor of Princeton Township. "It will allow us to be more effective. But there has been fear of change. It brings out a lot of emotion in people."

Population: 12,307

Median sale price: $400,000

Median household income: $104,234

Owners versus renters: 47.4% own, 52.6% rent

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Santa Monica, Calif.

Surrounded by Los Angeles on three sides and the Pacific Ocean on the other, Santa Monica is home to executives and Hollywood celebrities.

Residents enjoy three shopping districts, the Ferris wheel at the famed Santa Monica Pier and cultural activities at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The real-estate market is down 15% from 2009 to December, and homes take anywhere from 45 to 90 days to sell, but the market is still active, says Isabelle Mizrahi, a local real-estate agent. At the low end, a 900-square-foot home recently sold for $499,750; on the high end, a five-bedroom home on a 23,600-square-foot lot sold for $11.65 million.

Surrounding the city are Los Angeles' equally affluent neighborhoods of Malibu, Brentwood and Venice.

"It's convenient to shopping," Mizrahi says. "It's good schools. It's good restaurants. It's the ocean. And it really feels like you're in a separate city."

Population: 89,736

Median sale price: $765,000

Median household income: $66,269

Owners versus renters: 71.6% own, 28.4% rent

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Ridgeside, Tenn.

With charming 1920s-era homes, Ridgeside is a stark contrast to the surrounding city of Chattanooga. Ridgeside comprises just six blocks. Residents live in stately homes on tree-lined streets, banter on Facebook and gather at the community pool and city park for cookouts and ice-cream socials. Just a few blocks away are low-income housing projects and run-down buildings.

Although Ridgeside is affluent, homes here may sit on the market unsold for 140 days, Mayor Candice Poole says.

"We're kind of an island," she says. "People find out about us through word of mouth."

Population: 390

Median sale price: $60,504 (includes parts of Chattanooga)

Median household income: $85,313

Owners versus renters: 95.9% own, 4.1% rent

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Prairie Rose, N.D.

Prairie Rose emerged in 1972, when a farmer seeking extra cash sold 21 one-acre lots to homeowners on farmland four miles outside Fargo, N.D. Property owners incorporated as a town in 1978 because they worried that Fargo would one day annex the area and assess thousands of dollars for roads and sewer improvements.

Soon, Fargo grew so big that the city annexed all of the property surrounding Prairie Rose. The town today is a speck on the map of Fargo, which has a population 93,206. Prairie Rose is all of 0.2 square mile.

Many Fargo residents do not know that Prairie Rose even exists. Homes here sit on lots that are typically double the size of homes in Fargo, and homes often go for twice what they would in Fargo. Home sales in Prairie Rose happen only about every three or four years.

"Once people move here, they stay here," says Bob Staloch, Prairie Rose's auditor and one of its five original residents. "We all look out for each other."

Population: 73

Median sale price: Not available

Median household income: $102,031

Owners versus renters: 96% own, 4% rent

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