Township rises in ranking of the ‘Best Places to Live’
West WEST CHESTER TWP. — Chester Twp. is rising in the ranks of the nation’s best places to live.
That’s according to Money Magazine, which this week released its list of “Best Places to Live in America 2018,” with the Butler County township as No. 38 on that list.
West Chester Twp. placed 56th on the 2017 list recognizing the top 100 places to live with populations of 10,000 to 100,000.
Released Monday, this year’s list focuses on communities with populations of 50,000 and more. West Chester’s previous rankings include: No. 45 in 2005; No. 32 in 2010; No. 97 in 2012; No. 30 in 2014; and No. 49 in 2016.
“With outstanding schools, modest costs, and commutes, this Cincinnati-area suburb has been growing steadily,” writes reporter Sergei Klebnikov for the magazine, a publication of Time Inc.
The magazine eliminated any place that had more than double the national crime risk, less than 85 percent of its state’s median household income or a lack of ethnic diversity. That gave it 583 places.
It then collected more than 135,000 different data points to narrow the list. Final rankings derived from more than 70 different kinds of data in numerous categories, including on each place’s economy, cost of living, diversity, education, income, housing, crime, amenities and ease of living, all provided by research partner Witlytic.
Ohio’s largest township ranks high in nearly every category, with a median household income of $100,260, a high school graduation rate of 94 percent, and projected job growth of 4.48 percent, according to Money Magazine.
Money’s reporters also researched each area, interviewing residents and checking out neighborhoods for “the kinds of intangible factors that aren’t revealed by statistics,” the magazine said.
The publication also noted major local employers GE Aviation, Lakota Local Schools, TradeGlobal and West Chester Hospital and area attractions like the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting and EnterTRAINment Junction.
“The township has numerous events throughout the year, including music and food festivals, community activities, and holiday parades,” Klebnikov said. “During the summer, there are outdoor movies, farmers markets, and a free concert series.”
Not only is this the seventh time West Chester Twp. has been named to the magazine’s list of top communities, but it’s also the only Ohio community to make the 2018 list of picks by the publication.
Tops on Money Magazine’s list was Frisco, Texas, a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, followed by Ashburn, Va., and Carmel, Ind.
Township Trustee Mark Welch said the rankings are “very encouraging.”
“What it means is we’re doing some things right,” Welch said. “We’re a very business-friendly community. When you bring business in, you bring in jobs and we’re still focused on our core competencies, which is police, fire and roads, primarily, but we balance that we with a real nice work-play balance for the families that live here.”
Trustee Ann Becker said the township is “a great blend of great businesses, residents and schools.”