Despite the crippling traffic in Northern Virginia, a few of its towns have made CNN Money's list of "America's Best Small Towns." Leesburg ranked 4th, Herndon 34th, and Oakton 36th. Two nearby Maryland towns also made the cut: Montgomery Village (40th) and Crofton (82nd).

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“True, commutes can be abysmal,"CNN Money's Pieter van Noordennen writes about Leesburg. "But residents say that the tradeoff to live in this pretty town, which has seen more history than a Ken Burns film, is worth it. Many antebellum red-brick buildings still stand, now filled with restaurants and art galleries. On the negative side, there are some run-down neighborhoods."

Several other Virginia towns made CNN's "Rich and Single" list: Tyson's Corner, where 32.1 percent are single and median family income falls at $143,749, ranked 2nd; Arlington was 7th (42.1 percent, $119,427) Herndon was 20th (33.2 percent, $102,758); and Alexandria was 23rd (38.6 percent, $100,957).

As much as money matters, I'm skeptical of a list that disregards how much gridlock traffic affects our mental health. All those wealthy loners in Tyson's are probably too busy commuting to have time for dating.

[Herndon Patch via CNN]