Is Newton One of the Best Places to Live?

The website Livability has released its list of Top 100 Places to Live – and Newton was ranked number 68 in the United States.

Cambridge, at number 53, was the only other Massachusetts community to make the list. The top city in the country is Palo Alto, CA, according to Livability.

Livability focuses on four areas: Access, affordability, choice and utilization; and the data was measured across “eight pillars of livability”: amenities, demographics, economy, education, health care, housing, infrastructure and social and civic capital.

Newton got high marks on education and social and civic capital.

“Education occurs at all levels, so we examined indicators for public schools, colleges and universities, and the education levels of the adults in the city. Cities with higher-rated public schools, more colleges and universities, and well-educated adults scored best,” said Livability about education. 

“The cities on our list are working hard on their towns and investing in their communities. They’re working to attract and keep people who don’t just contribute to a community, but who engage with it. They’re developing spaces where people can work and play together, and collaborate and create together as well as living together. Those efforts are taking place in smaller towns where everyone bands together, as well as larger cities where the communities can be as sizable as the fans of a sports team or as tightly knit as workers in the same office building. The payoffs can be seen in the thriving downtowns, vibrant economies, as well as in the all-important church basements and ice cream socials,” said Livability about social and civic capital.

Surprisingly, Newton didn’t get great marks on health care. In fact, only two California communities that made the Top 100 (Irvine and Sunnyvale) got lower marks on health care.

“The cities that performed best on this list encourage healthy living by their very structure, as well as the presence of great, affordable care options. They will keep the residents of the best places to live living well for years to come,” said Livability about health care.

Livability gave these highlights about Newton:

• Mostly younger
• Small city
• Mostly homeowners
• Well-educated
• Mostly married
• Lots of families
• Mild summer
• Green city
• Close to major airport
• Nearby college/university
• Close to major sports team

Here’s the full Top 100 list. 

What do you think about Newton being listed as one of the best places to live? Let us know in the comment section below.