CT Towns Graded, From A+ To D+: How Did Our Community Do?

Here's a report card you should be paying attention to. And you may want to think twice about living in a place that was graded with a D+.

Niche has come out with its new 2018 rankings of the "Best Places to Live" in Connecticut, but for at least second year in row, it took a bit of a unique approach: The consumer rankings service assigned a grade, on an A+-to-D+ scale, to almost every town in the state.

Nearly 20 communities received A+ grades, topped with towns such as Greenwich, Ridgefield, Avon, Fairfield, New Canaan, and West Hartford. Five communities received D+ grades. The list included sections of towns and city neighborhoods.

"Awesome people, feels and is a community who support each other, kids, bikes, runners. Walkways, sidewalks all around. Superb local family owned boutiques who know their customers and their pets! Like no other nearby. Very warm and friendly," one reviewer said of Ridgefield, which earned an A+ score.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche.com took several factors into consideration, such as the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities.

Niche created a standardized score for each factor, and after weighting each factor, an overall score was calculated, which was again given a new standardized score.

Finally, Niche.com created a numerical ranking and assigned grades for each place. Click here to read more about the methodology.

Here are the Connecticut towns, and how they were graded:

A+

• Avon
• Cos Cob
• Fairfield
• Farmington
• Greenwich
• Mansfield
• New Canaan
• Old Greenwich
• Ridgefield
• Riverside
• Simsbury
• Southport
• Weatogue
• West Hartford
• West Simsbury
• Weston
• Westport
• Wilton
• Woodbridge

A

• Bethany
• Byram
• Canton
• Cheshire
• Darien
• Downtown Hartford
• East Granby
• East Lyme
• Glastonbury Center
• Granby
• Guilford
• Madison
• Mansfield Center
• Middlebury
• Monroe
• Mystic
• Newington
• Newtown
• North Granby
• Orange
• Pemberwick
• Redding
• Rocky Hill
• South Windsor
• Tariffville
• Terramuggus
• Trumbull

A-

• Andover
• Barkhamsted
• Bethel
• Bolton
• Branford
• Brookfield
• Collinsville
• Cromwell
• East Hampton
• Easton
• Ellington
• Essex
• Georgetown
• Glenville
• Groton
• Hamden
• Hebron
• Lakeville
• Ledyard
• Litchfield
• Long Hill
• Lyme
• Marlborough
• Middletown
• Milford
• Newfield
• Niantic
• Noank
• North Haven
• Old Lyme
• Old Mystic
• Old Saybrook
• Portland
• Salem
• Salisbury
• Salmon Brook
• Southbury
• Southington
• Stonington
• Storrs
• Suffield
• Wallingford
• Washington
• Waterford
• Wethersfield
• Windsor
• Woodmont

B+

• Ashford
• Berlin
• Bloomfield
• Burlington
• Canaan Town
• Canton Valley
• Chester
• Clinton
• Colchester
• Columbia
• Cornwall
• Coventry
• Crystal Lake
• Deep River
• Durham
• Eastford
• Haddam
• Higganum
• Groton Long Point
• Kensington
• Kent
• Lake Pocotopaug
• Lebanon
• Manchester
• Milford City
• North Branford
• Norwalk
• New Hartford
• New Milford
• New Preston
• North Stamford
• Pawcatuck
• Plainville
• Pomfret
• Prospect
• Roxbury
• Seymour
• Shelton
• Stamford
• Suffield Depot
• Tolland
• Westbrook
• Westover
• Willington
• Woodstock
• Woodbury
• Vernon

B

• Beacon Falls
• Bethlehem
• Bridgewater
• Bristol
• Coventry Lake
• Danbury
• Derby
• East Haddam
• East Windsor
• Enfield
• Falls Village
• Franklin
• Gales Ferry
• Goshen
• Harwinton
• Heritage Village
• Killingworth
• Middlefield
• Montville
• Morris
• Naugatuck
• New Fairfield
• New Haven
• Norfolk
• North Stonington
• Oxford
• Poquonock Bridge
• Saybrook Manor
• Sharon
• Shippan
• Sherman
• Somers
• South Coventry
• Springdale
• Stratford
• Thompsonville
• Turn of the River
• Warren
• Watertown
• West End
• Windsor Locks
• Wolcott

B-

• Belltown
• Bozrah
• Broad Brook
• Brooklyn
• Canaan
• Canterbury
• Chaplin
• Colebrook
• Cove
• East Hartford
• East Haven
• East Side
• Glenbrook
• Hampton
• Hartland
• Hazardville
• Killingly
• Lisbon
• Meriden
• New London
• North Canaan
• Oakville
• Plymouth
• Preston
• Putnam
• Rockville
• Scotland
• Sherwood Manor
• South End
• South West
• Southwood Acres
• South Woodstock
• Stafford
• Stafford Springs
• Thomaston
• Torrington
• Union
• Voluntown
• Waterside
• West Haven
• West Side
• Winchester
• Windham

C+

• Ansonia
• Asylum Hill
• Bantam
• Blue Hills
• Griswold
• Moodus
• Moosup
• New Britain
• Norwich
• Plainfield
• Sheldon Charter-Oak
• South Windham
• Sprague
• Sterling
• Terryville
• Thompson
• Willimantic
• Winsted

C

• Barry Square
• Behind the Rocks
• Blue Hills
• Bridgeport
• Danielson
• East Brooklyn
• Hartford
• Jewett City
• Quinebaug
• South End
• South Green
• Waterbury

C-

• Baltic
• Frog Hollow
• North Grosvenor Dale
• Parkville
• Wauregan

D+

• Clay Arsenal
• Northeast
• North Meadows
• South Meadows
• Upper Albany

PHOTO of park courtesy of Fairfax County, Va.

Patch Editor Tom Davis contributed to this story.