Money's top 100 places to live

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Greg
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Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Greg »

I've always had a terrible fascination for lists like this. Here's the link:

http://time.com/money/collection/best-p ... live-2017/

I like to compare the places on the list with places I know, and this time it's even more interesting (to me, anyway) than usual. I KNOW a lot of these places.

The last town I lived in NJ, Montville, usually places on these lists. One year it was iirc #13. Not this year. But I can comment on some others.

I live in an unincorporated section of St Charles County, MO. The municipalities near me have weird boundaries, such that I am very, *very* close to their #15 St Peters and #42 O'Fallon. At various points those two cities share a common border. There really isn't IMO much to differentiate them, except I find O'Fallon slightly nicer. Makes me wonder about the methodology there.

I am also honestly flabbergasted about some of the ratings for NJ towns. I'll talk about some of the ones I know well.

Like #33 Parsippany-Troy Hills. It's in Morris County. Morris County is a really nice red county. There are no really bad places in Morris County. Parsippany is one of the less nice places. It's profoundly mediocre. It has a lot of just slightly run down apartment complexes that are chock full of FOB Indians. You want Indian grocery stores to make your own curry, this is the place. Most of the towns bordering it are prettier, richer and lower crime. Like the one I lived in for my last 10 years in NJ. Oh and they're not kidding about the rivers. The town floods like a motherfucker (almost as bad as Wayne or Fairfield) whenever there's any kind of major storm. That was where European tourists were trapped in their hotel without power for 2 days once, due to flooding after a storm (Irene, iirc).

Or #36 Clifton. Oh it's not bad, but it's not great. My entire time in NJ I have either lived or worked (but not both at the same time, oddly) near Clifton. It has a big well known retail development where my wife and I used to hang out in the bookstore, and one of the restaurants there was the place of choice for holiday office dinners for my last job in the area. It's not a bad town, but it's not great either. They say 'moderate' crime, not 'low'. Parts of it are not good. And more and more the town was filling with native Spanish speakers. It got to be so bad, that one time I was at a store in Clifton and the people working there actually discriminated against me for being anglo. No shit. They wouldn't help me, and helped Spanish-speaking people who got there after I did. There are better towns bordering it in several directions (and much worse towns in others). I really have to wonder about their methodology.

Also I have commentary about a few towns in MA. In particular, #13 Waltham and #26 Newton. I have, at different times both lived and worked in Newton. Oh, and these two towns border each other btw. Newton is richer, nicer and safer. Waltham is a bit more 'diverse' and 'cultural'. So again I wonder about the methodology. In fact, compared to some others on the list, I would have thought Newton too rich and too expensive to make the list, as affordability is supposed to be a thing in their rankings. I LOVED Newton (as did a friend of mine, who volunteered to be Newton Auxiliary Police). Waltham was pretty decent. We went out to eat there a lot when I worked in Newton. There are other towns, like Arlington, that I would have ranked higher than Waltham. And if affordability isn't that much of a deal, there are other suburbs in that area that are theoretically even nicer than Newton, like maybe Belmont or Concord.

Anyone else have any thoughts on these?
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Weetabix
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Weetabix »

Never lived in any of them. Visited a few. Nixa, MO (#97) is just down the road, but I've not spent much time there. I have to admit I have an irrational bias against Christian county based on it's being the fastest growing county in the US a few years ago.

Lenexa made me think of Overland Park, KS. I love visiting that place. Cool coffee places, good restaurants, and Associated Radio. What could be better?
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Greg
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Greg »

Weetabix wrote:Never lived in any of them. Visited a few. Nixa, MO (#97) is just down the road, but I've not spent much time there. I have to admit I have an irrational bias against Christian county based on it's being the fastest growing county in the US a few years ago.

Lenexa made me think of Overland Park, KS. I love visiting that place. Cool coffee places, good restaurants, and Associated Radio. What could be better?
You know I'm not even sure where Nixa is. :lol:

All I remember is something about it having one of the better public school districts in the state, from when I was researching things before we moved here. That's in your neck of the woods?

Funny, 'fastest growing county' usually means you're in a decent sized metro area that some other parts of REALLY PUTRIDLY SUCK that people are justifiably running from, and that your highway access has recently improved. St Charles County has that 'fast growing' label and has for a while, what with people fleeing St Louis City, and to a lesser extent parts of St Louis County. And our highway access improving....
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

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Weetabix
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Weetabix »

Greg wrote:You know I'm not even sure where Nixa is. :lol:
Jason Bourne is from there. :geek:
All I remember is something about it having one of the better public school districts in the state, from when I was researching things before we moved here. That's in your neck of the woods?
Yep.
Funny, 'fastest growing county' usually means you're in a decent sized metro area that some other parts of REALLY PUTRIDLY SUCK that people are justifiably running from, and that your highway access has recently improved. St Charles County has that 'fast growing' label and has for a while, what with people fleeing St Louis City, and to a lesser extent parts of St Louis County. And our highway access improving....
Here, it meant "people are running to." I think they had a lot of transplants from out of state. I suppose some could have been coming from STL or KC. Nothing putridly sucky nearby to run from.

Part of my dislike is that when they were exploding, I had projects there, and the local municipalities were caught short handed and a bit inexperienced. That made my job harder. Like I said - it's not a justified dislike. It's just lingering. It's pretty country.
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Steamforger
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Steamforger »

Mercer Island, WA and "Affordable Homes".

Go on, pull the other one. A quick Redfin search shows 3 properties for sale under $400k. All are condos. Average HOA fee is $435/month

Median List Price= $2.2M
Median List/Sq.Ft. $559 ( :shock: )
Avg Down Payment= 41%

Under $700k returned 6 results with 2 being undeveloped land.

Clearly, Money and I have different definitions of "Affordable".
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Jericho941
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Jericho941 »

Steamforger wrote:Mercer Island, WA and "Affordable Homes".

Go on, pull the other one. A quick Redfin search shows 3 properties for sale under $400k. All are condos. Average HOA fee is $435/month

Median List Price= $2.2M
Median List/Sq.Ft. $559 ( :shock: )
Avg Down Payment= 41%

Under $700k returned 6 results with 2 being undeveloped land.

Clearly, Money and I have different definitions of "Affordable".
Right? Well, if you're a publication calling yourself "Money" I guess you have to have expensive taste.
Rich Jordan
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Rich Jordan »

I wonder if its possible to find a published 'best places to live' place and have it still be a great place 10-15 years later after it gets flooded by people moving there and changing its nature (like the nest foulers did to California and other places)
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Vonz90
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Vonz90 »

Rich Jordan wrote:I wonder if its possible to find a published 'best places to live' place and have it still be a great place 10-15 years later after it gets flooded by people moving there and changing its nature (like the nest foulers did to California and other places)
This is true, it is also like correlating the "fastest growing communities" lists and see just how many happen to be located near large really crappy places that people are escaping.
Greg
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Greg »

Rich Jordan wrote:I wonder if its possible to find a published 'best places to live' place and have it still be a great place 10-15 years later after it gets flooded by people moving there and changing its nature (like the nest foulers did to California and other places)
It depends. If the town is already reasonably developed, there can be no 'flooding'. Like say Newton, MA. I lived there for a little while 25+ years ago, and worked there for a couple of years 15+ years ago. It enjoyed the same reputation then that it enjoys now. When my friend was a volunteer (auxiliary) policeman there, a violent crime there was a novelty. Any kind of violent crime.

The only thing that can wreck a town like that is displacement/white flight. And in expensive towns, that doesn't happen.
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
Greg
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Re: Money's top 100 places to live

Post by Greg »

Vonz90 wrote:
Rich Jordan wrote:I wonder if its possible to find a published 'best places to live' place and have it still be a great place 10-15 years later after it gets flooded by people moving there and changing its nature (like the nest foulers did to California and other places)
This is true, it is also like correlating the "fastest growing communities" lists and see just how many happen to be located near large really crappy places that people are escaping.
I noticed that as well wrt the 'fastest growing' thing.

The only areas that can get flooded and rapidly changed are formerly undeveloped areas that get developed, where there is a huge amount of new construction. Then it really depends on what kind of buyers you're likely to get.

Which comes back to, who is fleeing from where? Also look at what is being built, the schools, etc. (You look at a first grade class, and in 10 years those will be the teenagers wandering your streets and cul-de-sacs.)
Maybe we're just jaded, but your villainy is not particularly impressive. -Ennesby

If you know what you're doing, you're not learning anything. -Unknown
Sanity is the process by which you continually adjust your beliefs so they are predictively sound. -esr
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