How Do Granby and East Granby Stack Up Against Similar Communities?

Connecticut Magazine has come out with its annual “Rating the Towns” list. The ratings, published in its November issue, group the state’s many communities by median home value, ranking towns that have similar resources.

The magazine explains that in the past, when they rated towns by population, a city like Bridgeport was being measured against a town like Greenwich, which in reality are two very different communities.

Towns were ranked on the following categories:

• Education
• Civic Engagement
• Economy
• Crime
• Leisure and Culture

Click here for a breakdown of how the magazine established the rankings for each category.

Now, how did Granby fare when compared to similar towns? For starters, the town is grouped with communities where the median home value is $250,000 to $325,000, with that value being $258,500 for Granby. A total of 38 towns made it into this category.

Here’s how Granby was ranked in the following categories:

• Leisure and Culture: 30
• Economy: 6
• Crime: 25
• Civic Engagement: 12
• Education: 8

The magazine notes, “This group is laden with a number of affluent suburbs that are within a reasonable commute to some of the big cities, including Hartford and New Haven.”

What about East Granby? The town is grouped with communities where the median home value is $200,000 to $249,000, with that value being $244,200 for East Granby. A total of 46 towns made it into this category.

Here’s how East Granby was ranked in the following categories:

• Leisure and Culture: 41
• Economy: 1
• Crime: 33
• Civic Engagement: 15
• Education: 10

The magazine notes, “This grouping has the largest number of towns—46—in our ratings, which means that a low rank in one category can skew a town’s overall score. For instance, East Granby finishes No. 1 in economy and No. 10 in education, two areas very important to many home buyers, but because of its comparative lack of in-town cultural and leisure activities, falls overall to the middle of the pack. But then again, given its proximity to Hartford and all its cultural amenities (minus the traffic and other big-city issues), many residents are content with the trade off.”

Click here to read more about the rankings.

Photo credits: Tim Jensen