Scotch Plains, Fanwood Named Among NJ’s Best Places To Live

SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ — Scotch Plains and Fanwood were named as one of the best places to live in America for 2019, according to a new set of rankings released by Niche. Scotch Plains was ranked as the 71th best place to live in New Jersey and the 2,248th best place to live in America. Fanwood was ranked as the 30th best place to live in New Jersey and the 1,489th best place to live in America.

The "Best Places to Live" rankings include cities, city neighborhoods and suburbs. Niche defines a place as a "non-rural town" with a population of 1,000 or more, including neighborhoods, suburbs and cities. Niche also separately ranked the best cities, neighborhoods and suburbs to live in.

Scotch Plains received an overall Niche grade of A. Here’s how Niche graded Scotch Plains in the following categories:

Public Schools: A+
Crime & Safety: B
Housing: B-
Nightlife: B+
Good for Families: A+
Diversity: A-

Scotch Plains also ranked as the No. 6 best place to live in the Union County area, the No. 73 best place to raise a family and the no. 62 best public schools in the New Jersey area.

Fanwood received an overall Niche grade of A+. Here’s how Niche graded Fanwood in the following categories:

Public Schools: A+
Crime & Safety: A-
Housing: B+
Nightlife: B+
Good for Families: A+
Diversity: B+

Fanwood also ranked as the No. 5 best place to live in the Union County area, the No. 27 best place to raise a family and the no. 18 best places to buy a house in New Jersey area.

The top 10 best places to live in New Jersey are:

1. Princeton Junction
2. Upper Montclair
3. Princeton
4. Princeton Meadows
5. Ridgewood
6. Waterfront in Jersey City
7. Westfield
8. Short Hills
9. Highland Park
10. Haddonfield

The top 10 best places to live in America are:

1. Bluemont, neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia
2. Carmel, Indiana
3. Overlake, neighborhood in Redmond, Washington
4. College Terrace, neighborhood in Palo Alto, California
5. Davis Island, neighborhood in Tampa, Florida
6. Rose Isle, neighborhood in Orlando, Florida
7. Colonial Village, neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia
8. Okemos, Michigan
9. Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania
10. Radnor/Fort Myer Heights, neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia

Niche released its "Best Places to Live" rankings on Monday. The publication says its goal is to "provide accurate, comparable and thorough evaluations of places." Using data from government and private sources, Niche grades the places evaluated for the rankings on factors like public schools, crime and safety and housing.

You can see the full Niche "Best Place to Live" rankings for 2019 here.

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.