What are some safe, small, tight-knit cities with good schools?

I'm looking for a small, safe, city pretty much anywhere in the US that doesn't have too high a cost of living. It should be in a good school district. A very small town where everyone knows everyone else would be nice, but I don't know if there are a lot of those out there anymore.

Public Comments

1. Westerville Ohio has some of THE best schools in the nation....that is not my opinion, but an actual statistic. It also is clean and safe. Compared to other homes in central Ohio it is expensive but compared to larger cities in the US it is very cheap to buy a house here. I have a 3000 square ft 5 bedroom house with a large yard for far less ( like almost half) than a 1200 square foot one bedroom apartment in San Francisco pr NYC. Also community is very important to people here. I am more a loner so find it a bit invasive, but if you like tight knit, you will find it here. I personally do not want to join neighborhood comities or spend every waking hour at this or that fund raiser....but I know many do and that's great. You will find lots of opportunities like that here.