June 30, 2015
File Art /for PhillyVoice
After analyzing over 700 towns in New Jersey, we came up with the list below as the best places in the Garden State.
We all know New Jersey is the best state in the Union. But because the whole state is so awesome, it’s hard to choose the best place to live within New Jersey.
Thankfully for you, we decided this question needed to be answered once and for all. So we turned to data and analytics to understand the best place to live in New Jersey.
After analyzing over 700 places in New Jersey, we came up with this list as the best places in the Garden State:
1. Readington Township
2. Parsippany-Troy Hills Township
3. Bernards Township
4. Hopewell Township
5. Morris Township
6. Hamilton Square
7. Hillsborough Township
8. Bridgewater Township
9. Raritan Township
10. Montville Township
And for those of you playing at home, this does in fact mean that Readington Township is the best place to live in America, in our opinion. Full disclosure: I grew up in Jersey.
Read on to find out how we got here.
Before we even started to collect data, we had to answer a tough question: How big do you have to be to be included on our list?
After collecting data for all 717 places in New Jersey, we ultimately decided to limit the best of the best to populations over 5,000. This left us with 407 places to rank.
We ranked each place across a number of criteria from one to 407, with one being the best.
We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the city posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Place To Live In New Jersey”.
The criteria we looked at were:
•Population (Higher better)
•Unemployment Rate
•Adjusted Median Household Income (Median income adjusted for the cost of living)
•Education (Expenditures per student and Student Teacher Ratio)
•Commute Time
•Crime
Sources of criteria include the Census, the BLS, FBI Crime Data, and Sperling’s Best Places.
If your city or town isn’t among the top 10, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart of the best places in New Jersey.
Otherwise, buckle up for the best that New Jersey has to offer.
Population: 16,118
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Median Income: $118,013
Readington is such a great place to live because of the opportunities for its residents and a plethora of things to do.
Merck has its global headquarters in Readington as well as the headquarters for QuickChek, both of which provide a foundation of job security.
Speaking of QuickChek, things to do include visiting the annual QuickChek hot air balloon festival, the largest in North America, and a host of museums around town.
Population: 53,284
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Median Income: $86,820
Parsippany takes 2nd place on our list of best places in New Jersey thanks to a strong showing in unemployment rate (10th overall) and things to do (top 10%).
Parsippany is no stranger to top ten lists, being named one of the best places to live in the country by Money Magazine repeatedly over the past ten years.
Population: 26,596
Unemployment Rate: 4%
Median Income: $127,809
Bernards township comes in third in our best places to live in New Jersey analysis.
Ranking highly for its exceptionally low unemployment rate (6th overall) and crime rate (24th overall), Bernards township is the exact kind of place you’d want to live with a family.
The headquarters to Verizon Wireless buoy the local economy along with the local economy along with several other major companies.
Population: 17,265
Unemployment Rate: 5%
Median Income: $144,973
Hopewell has a long and illustrious history and its ranking in the top five of our best places to live is just another notch in its belt.
Hopewell had the 2nd highest household median income adjusted for cost of living at $185,862.
Not to mention that its proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia gives residents plenty to do on the weekends.
Population: 22,375
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Median Income: $130,540
Morris Township comes in 5th (substantially) beating out its better known donut hole Morristown (Which came in a respectable 97th out of 407).
The township scored well for both its adjusted median income (13th) and unemployment rate (14th lowest in New Jersey).
A relatively low spending per student kept Morris Township from appearing higher on our list.
Population: 13,477
Unemployment Rate: 5%
Median Income: $103,162
Hamilton Square may be the smallest place on our list, but that doesn’t stop it from packing a big punch when it comes to best places to live.
Well, punch may have been the wrong word consider that the town ranks 4th overall for its extremely low crime rate. It’s the best of any place in our top ten by a pretty large margin with Bernards Township coming in 20 places behind it.
Population: 38,436
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Median Income: $110,551
Hillsborough Township ranks 7th on our list of best places to live in New Jersey thanks to its low unemployment and high adjusted median income.
Additionally, its crime rate ranks in the top 10% of all places in New Jersey that we examined.
People have been flocking to Hillsborough over the past 40 years and its population has increased over 300% during that stretch. Goes to show that everyone wants in on this great community.
Population: 44,504
Unemployment Rate: 4.4%
Median Income: $113,939
Bridgewater Township has a strong showing in our best places to live in New Jersey analysis, coming it at number 8.
It ranks highly like many others in the top ten for a low unemployment rate and high adjusted median income. It scored extra points relative to the top ten for its size and things to do.
Of course, you can’t forget the best thing to do in Bridgewater — shopping at the Bridgewater Commons Mall. Everyone in North Jersey makes it their destination at some point during the year.
Population: 22,063
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Median Income: $118,125
Raritan Township broke into the top ten best places to live in New Jersey on the back of a low unemployment and a quality schools system.
It placed 14th overall for its low unemployment rate and the highest of any place in the top 10 for it’s combination of low student to teacher ratio and high spending per student.
However, it has the longest average commute time of any place in the top 10 which held it back from being higher on our list.
Population: 21,580
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Median Income: $116,250
And rounding out the top 10 best places to live in New Jersey is Montville Township.
Montville followed a similar path to the top 10 with its low unemployment, however it also stood out for its crime rates, which place in the top 10% of the state.
Another universally recognized great place to live, Montville has consistently appeared as one of Money Magazine’s best places to live in the country.
There you have it, the best that New Jersey has to offer when it comes to finding a place to live.
At the end of the day, it looks like the places with low unemployment and high incomes outmatched their short commute counterparts and ultimately led Readington Township to the title.
However, in our humble opinion, there’s no better state in the nation than New Jersey, so any place inside the state bounds is a great place to live.
This article has been republished with permission from HomeSnacks.net, which you can visit here.
