Newton was named the best U.S. city to live in by 24/7 Wall St. for cities with a population exceeding 65,000. 24/7 Wall St. which describes itself as a financial news and opinion operation, evaluated economic data points such as median household income, cost of living, employment growth between 2011 and 2013, and the 2013 unemployment rate. Crime, economy, education, and housing were all factors receiving full weight, while environment, leisure, and infrastructure received half weight.
Here’s what they had to say about Newton:
1. Newton, Massachusetts
> Median household income: $125,642
> Unemployment rate, 2013: 4.80%
> Median home value: $689,900
> Violent crime per 100,000 residents: 87.6
> Average commuter travel time: 26.4 minutesA suburb of Boston, Newton is 24/7 Wall St.’s best city to live in. Crime rates were just a fraction of national figures in 2012. And while total employment rose only 0.5% between 2011 and 2013, the city’s unemployment rate remained below 5% during the same period.
Students have access to excellent schools. While nearly half of all school-age residents attended private schools, test scores in Newton’s public schools were far better than public schools across the state. Additionally, more than three-quarters of residents 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree, the second-highest rate in the country. Residents of Middlesex County, where Newton is located, can take advantage of 49 golf courses, nearly 3,000 restaurants, 24 museums and three ski resorts in their free time.
Living in Newton costs more than living in most of the United States, and more than most places in Massachusetts for that matter. This may explain may explain why it had the highest median income of any large city, at over $125,000.
And here’s the story USA Today ran today.
So cool! I think I may have actually heard of Wall St. 24/7…isn’t that one of those websites that generates visits through Outbrain and Taboola, with links like “15 Good-looking celebrities who destroyed themselves with plastic surgery,” “Seven causes of low testosterone,” etc.?
http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/newton/#axzz3DgmRPRNJ
Jim, you said “Slightly more than 18 percent of school-age children in the city attend public schools”…but you meant “private schools.”
Could you therefore please change your headline to “The Newton TAB voted least reliable newspaper for NPS school stats”?
Just kidding! Well, not kidding on the first part…
@Jim – ribbing aside, I do have to congratulate you on the good catch in calling out those figures. There are a lot of absurd quantitative assertions in news articles nowadays that nobody ever bothers to question, and this was one of them. Any journalist that has both the strong English and math skills to effectively expose flawed quantitative models gets very high marks in my book.
Michael,
Good catch! I fixed my typo, but stand behind the accuracy of my original headline because I was, in fact, the only person I polled.
Jim
I’m not going to try to analyze whether this organization’s rankings make sense or not, because other than hoping that they will convince people that a moratorium on teardowns will not inhibit their ability to get a good price for their house, I don’t really care. I don’t need rankings to tell me I don’t really want to live anywhere else.
But I have to say, it’s been a rather depressing day, this morning seeing construction equipment literally running roughshod over a berm and the roots of a city tree across the street from me (this one again http://village14.com/newton-ma/2014/06/another-way-construction-kills-trees/#axzz3DjHkBh00 ). Then later in the day a heavy crane with it’s stabilizer or whatever it’s called pressing down on the same berm while the crane broke branches on another city tree. The general contractor’s got at least one letter on past violations, but this stuff keeps happening with different subcontractors.
And twice today, in different villages, I heard people I’d never met before wonder whether the mayor is taking money from developers, because they can’t understand why developers seem to do whatever they want. Not the first tme for that either, but the first time I’ve heard it twice in one day. That’s a pretty depressing commentary.
In reading both articles what struck me, in addition to the attraction of Newton (which I already knew, I chose to live here!), was the desirability of sports clubs. What will people think if BSC-Newton gets demolished and the only indoors tennis club in the city disappears?
@Isabelle: What they should think is “I’m not surprised given how that facility has aged while fitness club competition has increased.”
First off, I DO like living here. However, It is certainly not the “best”city to live in.
Actually, it is a vibrant club busy all day long; recent renovations and new equipment. Have you been there lately?