Livingston Ranks Among Top 100 NJ Places to Live

When it comes to the best places to live in New Jersey — Livingston makes the list.

Livingston is No. 42 on a list of New Jersey’s Top 100 Towns published in the September issue of New Jersey Monthly.

Most of the municipalities to top the list this year are affluent northern and central New Jersey towns. 

"In difficult economic times, these towns tend to have the resources needed to hold the line on , maintain and protect their citizens ," stated New Jersey Monthly Editor Ken Schlager in a release about the new issue's cover story. "This in turn makes the towns more desirable to homebuyers, thus boosting home values." 

While Livingston did not make it into the Top 20, here are the towns that did: Ho-Ho-Kus, Peapack Gladstone, Bernards Township, Boonton Township, Rumson, Florham Park, Berkeley Heights, Bernardsville, Essex Fells, Franklin Lakes, Pequannock, Westfield, Tewksbury, Fair Haven, Chatham Township, Summit, Caldwell, Long Hill, Bedminster and Wyckoff.

Leflein Associates, an independent research firm based in Ringwood, compiled the 2011 list of New Jersey’s Top 100 Towns for New Jersey Monthly.

New Jersey has a total of 566 municipalities which were ranked by the researchers in five categories used to measure : property taxes; home values; crime rate; school performance; and a lifestyle factor based on proximity to services, entertainment and dining, as well as commute time. Due to insufficient data, municipalities with fewer than 1,500 residents were eliminated from the rankings.

Last weekend, the Wall Street Journal profiled Livingston for its real estate section. Good schools and a close commute, the article says, have made Livingston, N.J., a popular choice for many young families looking for alternatives to more expensive suburban neighborhoods.