Most San Diegans picture Encinitas as a classic, laid-back beach town, but a national real estate blog ranked it as one of the 10 “snobbiest small cities” in America.

Movoto Real Estate, which publishes a popular national blog about real estate trends, ranked Encinitas 8th on its list, tied with Rockville, MD, in the Washington suburbs.

California cities dominated the list, but only one other city in San Diego County, Poway, made the top 50.

“California reigns supreme in the elitism department, but that’s hardly surprising. It is a pretty wonderful place,” according to the blog, which is published in San Mateo in Silicon Valley.

Movoto said the list includes places with between 65,000 and 45,000 people ranked using data about home prices, household income, college graduates, private schools, performing arts and art galleries, with higher numbers equating to more snobbery. In addition, Movoto measured the number of fast food restaurants — with the fewer the better.

Here are the top 10 cities on the list:

  1. Palo Alto, CA
  2. Bethesda, MD
  3. Brookline, MA
  4. San Rafael, CA
  5. Walnut Creek, CA
  6. Hoboken, NJ
  7. Oak Park, IL
  8. Encinitas, CA (tie)
  9. Rockville, MD (tie)
  10. Laguna Niguel, CA

Chris Jennewein is Editor & Publisher of Times of San Diego.