Sorry, Omaha. Tough luck, Chicago. Too bad, Minneapolis and Kansas City and Denver. Yeah, you heard right. Lincoln has trumped you all. At least that’s what one poll says.

CNNMoney has ranked Lincoln —little underdog Lincoln — as the 60th-best place to live in the United States.

Omaha is waaay down at 97th place. And Chicago and the others (evil laugh here) aren’t even ranked.

Big cities did get their own rankings, though. For cities of 300,000 or more, Omaha was No. 7 —a reason for all of Nebraska to toot its horn.

In the overall list, Fort Collins, Colo., was No. 1, and only a handful of other Midwestern cities – like Overland Park and Olathe, Kan. – beat out the home of the Cornhuskers.

How’d this happen? After all, it must be admitted that Lincolnites aren’t the skinniest folks out there. We don’t bank the most or have the highest education. Few young singles are among us, and we’re not the hottest (temperature, notwithstanding) place around.

So was this a typo? Is Lincoln actually No. 600, not 60?

No, no. Take a look at the stats.

Analysts looked for cities with populations between 50,000 and 300,000. Then they screened out cities with too many old people, too much crime, absurd costs of living and low employment.

And then they crunched the numbers: everything from income to job growth, public-school success to park space, divorce rates to weather.

Lastly, analysts made personal visits to the leading cities to assess ambience, town leadership and vibrancy.

The airport must’ve been hopping that day, because somehow, Lincoln ended up among the best of the best, right in the company of Appleton, Wis., and Longmont, Colo.

Omaha’s been left in the dust. The next cities to catch? Boise, Idaho, and Plano, Texas … obviously.

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.

Towns at the top

1. Fort Collins, Colo.

2. Naperville, Ill.

3. Sugar Land, Texas

4. Columbia/Ellicott City, Md.

5. Cary, N.C.

In the middle

58. Denton, Texas

59. Chesapeake, Va.

60. Lincoln

61. Longmont, Colo.

 62. North Richland Hills, Texas

And at the bottom*

*There are hundreds of cities that didn’t crack the rankings at all.

 86. Bend, Ore.

87. Nashua, N.H.

88. Bethlehem, Penn.

89. Portland, Maine

90. Fayetteville, Ark.

Lincoln vs. the top 10

Median family income: Lincoln, $58, 680; top 10 average, $76,893

Sales tax: Lincoln, 7 percent; top 10 average, 6.55 percent

Job growth (2000-2005): Lincoln, 4.66 percent; top 10 average, 10.97 percent