best places to live in new jersey Archives

Westfield Area Cities Make Top 20 Best Places to Live in NJ List

March 18, 2022 by Scott Gleason

What do Short Hills, Westfield, Summit, and Chatham Township all have in common? Great schools. Great homes. Awesome people. Oh, and they all made Niche.com’s 2022 Top 20 Best Places to Live in New Jersey List. How did Niche.com determine their rankings and what made these Westfield area cities so special? I’m glad you asked.

No surprise here. Four Westfield area cities landed among the top 20 of Niche.com's Best Places to Live in New Jersey list for 2022.

Westfield Area Cities Named Among Top 20 Best Places to Live in NJ

How Niche.com Determined Rankings

Niche.com gathers data from various sources, such as the US Census, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Tax Foundation, the FBI Uniform Crime Report, local surveys, and more. Then, they sort this information into 15 separate categories. Cost of living and higher education rate receive the most weight (12.5% each) while the shortest commute makes up 2% of each city’s overall grade.

Short Hills (#12) came in tops among the four cities in the Westfield area on this list. It also landed on top of the Best Places to Live in Essex County list. Westfield itself followed closely behind at #13. Niche.com ranked it #1 of the Best Places to Live in Union County. Summit hit the #18 spot in the entire state but #2 in Union County. Chatham Township closed out the state’s rankings at #20 and landed in the #2 spot for Morris County, following right behind Mountain Lakes. All four cities received an overall “A+” rating from Niche.com’s panel. Short HIlls also filled the top spot for Best Public Schools in New Jersey. Westfield’s public schools, nightlife, jobs, recreation, and family-friendly atmosphere received “A” grades all around.

Westfield is no stranger to Niche.com’s “Best” lists. They have consistently ranked in the top 20 “Best of New Jersey” lists for several years, including the Best Suburbs to Live in New Jersey in 2020 and the Best Places to Live in New Jersey in 2019. In fact, this year’s placement of #13 on the state’s overall list is an improvement on the #15 spot they ranked in 2021.

Our Westfield area market is seeing a lot of buyer interest right now. So, if you wish to put your home on the market anytime soon, please contact me right away.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

Westfield Named in Top 10 Best Places to Live in NJ 2020

July 31, 2020 by Scott Gleason

There are so many things to love about our fair city. Great food options. Lots of shopping. And we always help others in whatever way possible. So it should be no surprise that Westfield ranked in the Top 10 of Niche.com’s Best Places to Live in NJ for 2020.

Niche.com ranked Westfield #9 in its Top 10 Best Places to Live in NJ List for 2020 and #6 on its Best Suburbs to Live in NJ 2020.

Westfield Among Top 10 Best Places to Live in NJ

At #9, Westfield was the top-rated Union County city in New Jersey to make Niche.com’s list. The only other Union County city on the list was New Providence. That makes three years in a row that Niche.com bestowed this honor upon Westfield. Our real estate market has seen an increase in buyer demand even with COVID-19.

Niche.com bases their rankings on 12 different factors. These include public schools, jobs, health and fitness, outdoor activities, nightlife, and whether it’s a good place for families. All of these received “A” grades, with public schools, health, and fitness, and good for families receiving an A+ each. Commute time, housing, crime and safety, diversity, and weather all received “B” grades.

The majority of Westfield residents own their homes. This shows in how well-maintained our properties are. That shows a pride of ownership. The city offers a wide variety of restaurants, boutiques, and coffee shops as well as parks. Its easy commute into the City makes it a fantastic option for workers who desire a more suburban home life. (It’s also #6 on Niche.com’s Best Suburbs to Live in New Jersey 2020, too.)

Best Places to Live in New Jersey 2020

#1 – Princeton
#2 – Princeton Junction
#3 – Upper Montclair
#4 – Ridgewood
#5 – Mountain Lakes
#6 – Princeton Meadows
#7 – Springdale
#8 – Monmouth Junction
#9 – Westfield
#10 – New Providence

If you’d like to purchase a Westfield home, contact me. I’d be happy to show you everything this town has to offer.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

Westfield Makes Top 10 List of Best Places to Live in New Jersey

March 9, 2018 by Scott Gleason

The national ranking company Niche recently released their “Best” lists for each state across the country. Westfield made their Top 10 List of “Best Places to Live in New Jersey”. Our great schools, extremely low crime rate, entertainment options, and family-friendly atmosphere helped us rank in the upper echelon.

Why Westfield Made the Top 10 List of Best Places to Live in New Jersey

Niche gathers data from trusted sites like the Department of Education, FBI, and the US Census Bureau. They also send out millions of questionnaires to local residents around the US. Then, they analyze the answers to these questions as well as the data gathered from official sources. This helps them determine each city’s rankings. Westfield ranked #10 on Niche’s “Best Places to Live in New Jersey” list based on the following factors:

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Public Schools
Housing
Good for Families
Jobs
Cost of Living
Outdoor Activities
Crime & Safety
Nightlife
Diversity
Weather
Health & Fitness
Commute

With a mixture of A’s and B’s, Westfield received an overall grade of A+. We scored highest for our schools, health and fitness, outdoor activities, nightlife, low crime, and family-friendly environment. These all received A’s. More than 80% of Westfield residents own their own home. That helps foster a greater sense of community, which, in turn, makes it such a great place to raise a family. Our crime rate is 96.4% below the national average. Eighty-four percent of Westfield residents are college educated. Of the 33 public schools in the Westfield school system, 21 received an “A”.

In addition to the “Best Places to Live in New Jersey” list, Westfield ranked #6 on the “Best Suburbs to Live in New Jersey” and #14 on the “Best Suburbs to Raise a Family in New Jersey” lists. Contact me when you’re ready to look for your next Westfield home.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes

Westfield News: Named One of the Best Places to Live in NJ Again

September 1, 2017 by Scott Gleason

Every two years, New Jersey Monthly compiles a list of the “Best Places to Live in New Jersey”. In Westfield news, our city made the top 100 on that list. In fact, Westfield ranked #34 on the magazine’s 2017 list, a big jump from #62 two years ago.

What Determines Ranking on Best Places to Live List?

First, New Jersey Monthly eliminated any city with less than 1500 people due to lack of any significant data. With the remaining 513 New Jersey towns, they looked at the following factors:

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home values (median sale price and its change from 2014, average days on the market)
property taxes (change in average tax bill, effective tax rate)
crime rate (total as well as violent crime by itself)
school performance (student proficiency on standardized tests for grades 4 and 8, high school ranking for the state)
lifestyle factor (amount of acute-care hospitals, number of live performing art centers, total full-service restaurants and commute times)

Extra weight was given to the high school ranking, as it came from New Jersey Monthly’s own Top Public High Schools Chart published in September 2016. Median sale prices and property tax changes compared 2014 statistics with 2016 stats. Crime rates were determined from the New Jersey Division of State Police’s 2014 Uniform Crime Report (the most recent data available). All other information came from 2016 data collected.

Westfield News

Out of all the Union County cities on the list, Westfield’s population was the highest (30,548 as of 2015). Our average property tax rate in 2016 was $16,281, 5.8% higher than 2014. The median sale price for a Westfield home in 2016 was $689,000, second only to Summit in Union County. That was 3.6% higher than two years prior. Our 4th graders ranked in the 97th percentile for state-mandated tests while 8th graders ranked in the 90th percentile. Westfield High School was highest in Union County on New Jersey Monthly’s Top Public High Schools Chart (#8). For a complete rundown of all cities and their rankings, you can download a copy from New Jersey Monthly magazine’s Best Places to Live in New Jersey page here.

Scott Gleason, CRS at Coldwell Banker Realty – East, NJ Luxury Homes