Chatham Ranked Number Three As Best Town
By Kerry Breen
This year, Niche.com, a website that focuses on providing rankings and statistics for towns and cities in New Jersey, made a list of ‘the best suburbs in which to raise a family’. Chatham ranked third overall on its list, and 35 other Morris County municipalities were listed as well.
Niche keeps their full methodology printed on its website. The categories are all weighted individually, which helps make up the score for each town. At the time of analysis and ranking, the Niche databases contained records for 11,372 suburbs. Of the suburbs that met the required qualifications, those at the site were able to grade 11,196 and rank 3,250. More information about Niche and its qualifications can be found here: https://local.niche.com/rankings/methodology/#qualifications.
“We have a very attractive town,” said Kevin Sullivan, the Mayor of Chatham Township. “We have a great school system and a very efficient municipal government that has delivered essential services while maintaining a flat tax rate for nearly five years.
“I think the town offers a community that has a real abundance of talent – we have talented people who are dedicated to serving in a variety of capacities from a volunteer standpoint, and they serve the community in different ways, be it coaching, working in the library, helping in the schools, emergency services, etc.,” he continues. “Chatham is a very attractive place to grow up and raise a family.”
According to Niche, its grade “takes into account family-centered factors, such as public education, safety, community involvement, and access to family necessities, in an attempt to holistically measure how good an area is for families.”
The factors and the weights that are used to make up the rankings of those that are qualified for this survey are as follows. Many information and statistics are taken from the U.S. Census; others are based on a grade given by Niche. More information about Niche’s methodology can be found here: https://local.niche.com/rankings/suburbs/best-places-for-families/methodology/.
The crime and safety grade is worth 20 percent of the ranking. Niche uses statistics to capture a location’s general safety. This information is provided by the Niche grade.
Education is also worth 20 percent of the ranking. The site incorporates the average Niche K-12 overall grade for every public school serving the area. Each school is weighted by the number of students it serves.
The community grade is also provided through the Niche grade ranking, and makes up 10 percent of the total. It incorporate statistics that capture an area’s involvement and investment in the community. The housing grade makes up another 10 percent of the ranking, and is again ranked by the Niche grade. It incorporates statistics that capture how good an area is when it comes to purchasing a home.
Niche also provides statistics based on the residential age in the area. They take the percentage of residents between the ages of 35 to 44 for one category, which makes up another 10 percent of the ranking. They also take the percentage of residents between the ages of zero and nine, which is another 10 percent of the ranking. This information is provided by the U.S. Census.
The Niche rankings also include access to libraries, day cares and grocery stores. This is measured by the proximity and availability of the locations within each suburb. The information for the libraries is provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the information about day cares and grocery stores is provided by the U.S. Census. The availability of libraries makes up 10 percent of the ranking; the availability of the day cares and grocery stores are worth five percent each.