New Jersey’s 7 Top Towns

Madison, NJ. There are many great places to live in New Jersey, but Far Hills earned the top spot in the Garden State, according to a recent study by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind. The study, which was commissioned by New Jersey Monthly Magazine, ranks the quality of life in all of the Garden State’s 566 towns and cities. The full story and top rankings in each of seven categories, and profiles of the highest ranking towns appear in the May issue of New Jersey Monthly.

 In addition to Far Hills, which is the winner in the north central region, the other winners are: Old Tappan for northeast New Jersey, Delaware Township for northwest New Jersey, Millstone Township for south central, Upper Township for south Jersey, Sea Girt among shore towns, and Newark for the Big (6) Cities.

 PublicMind collected data in five categories—economy, cost of living, education, crime rate, and culture and leisure, then grouped the results by seven geographic categories—the traditional Big 6 Cities, shore towns (facing the ocean), the northeast (Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties) northwest (Sussex, Hunterdon, Warren and Morris counties), north central (Somerset, Mercer, Union, and Middlesex counties), south central (Monmouth, Burlington, and Ocean counties), and south Jersey (Cape May, Camden, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, and Atlantic counties). Information was collected from government agencies, private organizations and a variety of publications. Data for each of 566 municipalities and each of the variables were averaged and ranked.

 PublicMind is the research and survey institute of Fairleigh Dickinson University. In an effort to advance public discourse by publicizing interesting and controversial data and analyses, PublicMind has conducted public polls on New Jersey elections, important policy issues, consumer confidence, and popular culture. New Jersey Monthly Magazine is a general-interest magazine that covers every facet of life in the Garden State.

Contact: John Schiemann, 973-443-8731

Visit PublicMind at: http://publicmind.fdu.edu and NJ Monthly at: http://njmonthly.com

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