Middlesex County Is One America's Best Places To Live: Report

Middlesex County is the place to be. The finance website 24/7 Wall Street placed Middlesex County in the top 25 counties to live in America in a new report.

Middlesex County just barely made the list at No. 25. It is the only county in not only Massachusetts but also New England to make the list, which was built based on education, poverty and life expectancy factors.

Middlesex County is one of the wealthiest counties in the country with a median household income of $92,878. The poverty rate sits at 8.2 percent.

The average life expectancy in Middlesex County is 81.6 years. And 54.1 percent of people obtain a bachelor’s degree.

Here's what 24/7 Wall Street had to say:

"Middlesex County is located in eastern Massachusetts, covering Cambridge and extending north to the New Hampshire border. Middlesex is the only county in Massachusetts and the broader New England region to rank among the 25 best counties to live in. One of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., Middlesex has a median household income of $92,878 — about $35,000 more than the national median. High incomes are bolstered by a healthy economy. Just 2.4% of the county labor force was unemployed in October, well below the comparable 3.7% national unemployment rate.

Virginia and Colorado performed very well in the rankings. Both had two cities ranked in the top 5 — and three in the top 10 — making the states attractive destinations for those thinking of a big change. That includes Pitkin County, Colorado, which ranked as the single best county to live in the entire country.

The authors highlighted the county, nestled in the Rocky Mountains, as one of the healthiest and best educated populations in America. Residents can expect to live 86.5 years — more than seven years longer than the national average.

“The county’s near nation-leading average life expectancy is partially attributable to the high educational attainment,” the authors noted. “College graduates live an average of nine years longer than those who have not completed high school, and in Pitkin County, 61.2 percent of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher, nearly double the 30.9 percent share nationwide.”

Here are the top 10 counties:

1. Pitkin County, CO
2. Arlington, County, VA
3. Los Alamos County, NM
4. Douglas County, CO
5. Loudoun County, VA
6. Fairfax County, VA
7. Howard County, MD
8. Marin County, CA
9. Williamson County, TN
10. Summit County, CO

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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