CT Magazine is out with their latest town rankings

[NewJeffCT]

They ranks 94 towns in CT by education, leisure activities available, crime rate, cost of living, economy, etc.

Tops by category:
Over 50,000 population: Greenwich ekes by #2 Fairfield
25,000 - 50,000: Glastonbury beats out #2 Westport (high crime in Westport? What, Martha Stewart?)
15,000 - 25,000: Ridgefield easily beats Avon
10,000 - 15,000: Weston edges Old Saybrook.

[bigwillq]

1. Any link to see the entire list?

Just wondering.

[NewJeffCT]

2. sorry, i only have a hard copy

And, the list on the CT Magazine website is as of March 2003

[groton]

3. were does groton or any other new london county town

NM

[NewJeffCT]

4. some of New London County

Groton is in the 25,000 to 50,000 category and rates #7 overall, just behind #6 Branford and just ahead of #8 Wallingford.

New London is rated #21, behind #20 Stratford & ahead of #22 Naugatuck. Norwich is tied for #16 with Southington.

They rate Groton #16 out of 24 towns for Education; #16 for Crime; #10 for Economy; 8.5 for Cost of Living; and #2 for Leisure, behind Westport.

A few from the 15,000 to 25,000 range, out of 30 towns. (I think they are in New London Cty)
East Lyme is #14
Montville is #25
Stonington is #20

In the 10,000 to 15,000 range, out of 23 towns.
Ledyard is #10

[calico1]

6. Interesting.

I live in Gales Ferry which is a sub division of Ledyard. But I work in Groton. I used to live in Waterford and worked in New London. I am not surprised at New London's low ratings. They suck as far as services.

[Throckmorton]

20. I live in East Lyme, Somehow 14th seems a little low.

But maybe the services I need from the town are different than most other people.

BTW, I can't wait for the new boardwalk at railroad beach to be finished. It will be open to all, stop and sit on Mrs. Throckmorton's memorial bench if you come for a visit. They still haven't released where it will be, but one thing is for sure, she would have loved it.

[NewJeffCT]

21. a lot of good towns in that category

Towns like Wilton, Simsbury & Ridgefield have some of the best public school systems in the country, with Darien, Madison, Avon & New Canaan not too far behind.

East Lyme was rated #20 for economy, which hurt their overall (#12 for education)

[bigwillq]

5. No problem

Just was interested to see what towns ranked where.

[NewJeffCT]

7. if you need a town, let me know

I'm not going to post the whole list, but I'll be happy to answer a few more questions.

The small town list (towns under 10,000) will come out in March of 2005.

[bigwillq]

14. There's no way either of the towns I call home

would be near the top of the lists.

Try these

Ansonia
Waterbury

[NewJeffCT]

18. you would be correct

In the over 50,000 category, Waterbury comes in #14 out of 17, behind New Britain, but ahead of West Haven.

Ansonia comes in #30 out of 30 in the 15,000 to 25,000 range. They finished well behind #29 Killingly.

[bigwillq]

19. How sad!

But the condo I owe in Waterbury with my boyfriend is in a good section and my parents home in Ansonia is in a very nice, suburban neighborhood.

[grievousangel]

23. our town?

ranking for Storrs and or Mansfield please...ty in advance!

[NewJeffCT]

24. I'll check tonight, but it is only for towns over 10,000

The 10,000 & below list will be coming out in the Spring.

I don't know if Mansfield / Storrs has enough people to make this list. I know the school system up there is rated pretty highly (EO Smith)

[yaayaa]

15. HOW DO I GET A HARD COPY?

HI.
HOW DO I GET A HARD COPY? ARE THE COMPLETE RANKINGS LISTED IN THE HARD COPY?
THANKS.

[NewJeffCT]

16. welcome to DU

And, I'm sure plenty of local newstands & bookstores in CT are carryinig this. I think somebody at work swiped mine, as I have not seen it for a few days.

And, yes, they rank every town with a population over 10,000. The 10,000 & less issue will come out in March of 2005.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

22. sperlinigs best places to live search engine

http://www.bestplaces.net/nhood/nprof1.asp?qryZip=87824&cname=Luna,%20NM

[Tangledog]

8. Possibly the only worthwhile....

...article they'll have all year. Amongst regional/state magazines, Connecticut Magazine ranks near the bottom. (Most of the northeastern ones are pretty crappy. I don't know why we can't do a better job. Hartford is quite a lot more interesting.)

I looked at the issue briefly in the library today. I was very impressed that they included per-capita library funding as a major quality-of-life criterion. They dunked Milford pretty hard for that.

Tangledog, hoping you're all duly impressed that "interesting" and "Hartford" are in the same sentence.

[eataTREE]

9. Farfield rocks!

We're #2!
We're #2!
We're #2!

Come on guys, say it with me! :P

[NewJeffCT]

10. did some prelim browsing on Fairfield online recently

Was supposed to have an interview in White Plains lined up and was thinking about what towns to live in down there that would give my family good public schools, be in Connecticut still and also not be too far from WP. So, I browsed realtor.com to check prices to be prepapred in case the interview went well and I'd have to relocate from east of Hartford to Fairfield Cty... Fairfield seemed a pretty good choice and was more affordable than Westport, Wilton or Ridgefield.

One good thing about living in CT is that plenty of towns have good public schools. (Yes, plenty of towns have work to do in this area, but, on average, we're very good overall)

[eataTREE]

11. Fairfield isn't bad for Fairfield County.

Some parts are more affordable than others. I live in the Tunxis Hill area and house prices are about as good as you're going to get here. (Of course, if you prefer a McMansion, there are plenty of neighborhoods that have those too.)

It's very suburban; no real sense of community. I've connected with people here on DU in the few short weeks I've been here more than I have with my next-door neighbors in more than a year.

[NewJeffCT]

12. I saw a new house under construction

In Fairfield on realtor.com that was about the same as our new house East of Hartford now. The only difference is that I have 1.40 acres of land now, while the home in Fairfield has like 0.25 acres of land. If I had to sell our current home now, I am fairly confident we'd get around $400,000 for it. That house in Fairfield is $659,000.

http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1041206371

I honestly don't know enough about Fairfield Cty to make a judgment about what sort of community it is, though. However, upon looking again, it says it is not part of a subdivision... so, that is a red light for me at least. I know my wife wants a neighborhoodly type place.

[groton]

13. thanks dude

great news were Groton Rates.

thoe i thought Groton had more people liveing here.
must not be counting Groton City in with Groton.

[connecticut yankee]

17. You might consider other towns

such as Trumbull, Monroe and Easton.

The prices tend to be lower, as well as the taxes. I live in Fairfield, and the taxes are pretty high.

The school systems in these other towns are pretty good, and they're within close proximity to the Merritt Parkway. Traffic on both I-95 and the Merritt are horrendous during "rush hour," but you don't have trucks on the Merritt.