What to know
Fair Lawn, New Jersey, received one of the best scores in the US in WalletHub’s ranking of America’s Best Small Towns. The Bergen County city ranked sixth in the country, with high ratings in education and health (17th) and safety (18th). While it still ranked at the front of the pack in affordability (143rd) and economic health (241), according to the study, had problems in quality of life, ranking 883rd overall in that category among 1,300 cities ranked in the study. A popular New York tourist spot also scored very high on the list, finishing in the 99th percentile of all small cities in the country; Four other locations, all in New Jersey, also ranked in the top 5%.
NEW YORK — People like to brag about where they’re from, but residents of one New Jersey county may call the shots in all three states, according to recent rankings.
He WalletHub personal finance website gave Fair Lawn one of the best scores in the US in its ranking of America’s Best Small Cities. The Bergen County city ranked sixth in the country, with high ratings in education and health (17th) and safety (18th).
While it still ranked at the front of the pack in affordability (143) and economic health (241), according to WalletHubhad quality of life issues, ranking 883rd overall in that category (out of 1,300 cities rated in the study).
But Fair Lawn doesn’t have all the bragging rights. Saratoga Springs, a popular tourist spot just north of Albany, also scored in the 99th percentile, scoring just below Fair Lawn at 69.11, good for ninth overall. Four other small cities, all in New Jersey, also ranked in the top 5% of small cities, including Princeton, Ridgewood, Paramus and Hoboken.
Additionally, the city of Commack on Long Island has the lowest proportion of its population living in poverty, just 1.8%, according to WalletHub. Westfield, New Jersey, was right behind.
The highest-ranked small city in Connecticut, according to the study, was Shelton in New Haven County, followed by the coastal cities of Stratford and Norwalk.
So which was the best city overall? That honor goes to Carmel, Indiana, which was ranked as one of the safest small cities in the country (fourth), along with top 50 rankings for affordability (31st) and education and health care (50th). It was one of three Indiana cities to make the top five, along with neighboring Westfield (fourth overall) and Fishers (fifth overall), WalletHub found. Lexington, Massachusetts, and Brentwood, Tennessee, were also rated best of the best.
Here are the small cities in the tri-state area among the top cities, ranked in the 90th percentile or higher, according to WalletHub study (percentile is in parentheses):
Saratoga Springs, NY (99)
Princeton, NJ (97)
Ridgewood, NJ (97)
Paramus, NJ (96)
Hoboken, NJ (95)
Shelton, CT (93)
Westfield, NJ (90)
Long Beach, NY (90)
At the other end of the scale, New Jersey was also home to a city that had one of the worst scores in the country, as Camden ranked in only the first percentile of scores (it had the eighth-worst score of all cities ranked). Camden scored just 42.34, just a few points above the lowest-scoring city, which was Bessemer, Alabama, with a score of 37.02, according to the study.
New Jersey was actually home to five cities that finished among the lowest in the country: Millville, Atlantic City, Vineland and Trenton finished at the lowest tier. Rockland County’s Spring Valley also ranked low on the list.
Other notables on the list: New Jersey’s Lakewood had the fourth-highest housing cost, while New Brunswick had the fourth-lowest homeownership rate; Stratford, Connecticut, had the fourth-worst income growth; Hoboken was tied for fourth most hours worked each week.
Here’s the rest of the list: 80th percentile or higher:
Stratford, CT (88)
Norwalk, CT (86)
Fort Lee, NJ (84)
White Plains, NY (84)
Top 70th percentile:
Englewood, NJ (79) Ithaca, NY (79) Albany, NY (78) East Meadow, NY (77) Baldwin, NY (77) Manchester, CT (76) Wethersfield (76) West Hartford, CT (76) Naugatuck, CT (75) Danbury, CT (73) Plainview, NY (72)
Top 60th percentile:
New City, NY (69) Middletown, CT (69) Sayreville, NJ (69) Oceanside, NY (68) Hicksville, NY (67) Newington, CT (67) Hackensack, NJ (66) New Rochelle, NY (64) Smithtown, NY (64) Glen Cove, NY (63) Milford, CT (63) Valley Stream, NY (63) West Islip, NY (61) Rahway, NJ (60) Bristol, CT (60)
50th percentile and above:
Franklin Square, NY (58) Bayonne, NJ (58) Auburn, NY (57) Commack, NY (57) Troy, NY (57) Kearny, NJ (56) Clifton, NJ (55) Niagara Falls, NY (53) Torrington, CT (53) Levittown, NY (53) New London, CT (53) Schenectady, NY (52) Ossining, NY (51) Harrison, NY (51) West Seneca, NY (50) West New York, NJ ( 50)
40th percentile and above:
Holbrook, NY (49) Freeport, NY (49) Port Chester, NY (48) Cheektowaga, NY (47) Garfield, NJ (47) Utica, NY (57) Mount Vernon, NY (44) Lindenhurst, NY (43) Brentwood, NY (43) Linden, NJ (42) Toms River, NJ (41) West Babylon, NY (40) Norwich, CT (40)
30th percentile and above:
Middletown, NY (39) West Haven, CT (38) Long Branch, NJ (37) Meriden, CT (37) Elmont, NY (36) Poughkeepsie, NY (35) Huntington Station, NY (34) Brighton, NY (33) ) Jamestown, NY (33) Deer Park, NY (32) East Haven, CT (32) Shirley, NY (31) Irondequoit, NY (31) Central Islip, NY (31)
20th percentile and above:
Watertown, NY (29) Uniondale, NY (29) Binghamton, NY (28) Newburgh, NY (27) Bay Shore, NY (27) East Hartford, CT (26) Elmira, NY (24) New Brunswick, NJ (22) ) Plainfield, NJ (22) New Britain, CT (21)
10th percentile and above:
Perth Amboy, NJ (19)
Union City, NJ (18)
Hempstead, NY (18)
Passaic, NJ (14)
Lakewood, NJ (12)
East Orange, NJ (10)
1st percentile and above:
Trenton, NJ (8)
Spring Valley, NY (7)
Vineland, NJ (4)
Atlantic City, NJ (3)
Millville, NJ (3)
Camden, NJ (1)
2023-10-11 03:08:53
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