Awards

Six Straight Years: West Hartford Named ‘Best Place to Live’ in Connecticut by Niche

MONEY magazine announced West Hartford was ranked in the Top 50 Best Places to Live in the United States for towns and cities with populations of 50,000 or greater.  West Hartford was the only Connecticut town/city to make the Top 50 list and was one of three in New England.

To compile the ranking, MONEY magazine starts with a list of all U.S. towns and cities with populations of 50,000 or greater. The pool is then drilled down to 583 cities by using 135,000 different data points in the following categories: economic health, cost of living, diversity, public education, income, crime, ease of living, and amenities. The greatest weight is placed on economic health, public school performance, and local amenities; housing, cost of living, and diversity were also critical components.

Zippia.com named West Hartford the best city for remote workers to call home in Connecticut.  Zippia .com set out to uncover the most affordable cities with speedy fast internet. West Hartford has everything remote workers need to thrive.

Livability.com has released its annual Top 100 Best Places to Live list and West Hartford made the list, the only city in Connecticut to do so. More than 2,300 cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000 were ranked on 40 data points measuring economics, housing, amenities, infrastructure, demographics, social and civic capital, education and health care. West Hartford earns high marks in education, healthcare and technology, and the city is becoming a summertime tourism destination with excellent restaurants and high-end shopping choices.

RENTCafe.com conducted a study of the best and worst U.S. metros to live in, according to each profession. RENTCafe.com calculated the average amount of money left each year for 21 major professional occupations in the top 100 most populous U.S. metros, by subtracting the average cost of living per metro from the average net income per professional field. The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford metro ranks in the top 10 best metros to live in for 12 different professional fields. Here are our key findings:

#1 Best Metro to live in for Office & Administrative Support workers. People in this professional field are left with $12,200 each year after covering the basic living expenses
#3 Best Metro for Building & Grounds Cleaning & Maintenance (+$3,400/year)
#4 Best Metro for Community & Social Service (+$19,800/year)
#4 Best Metro for Education, Training, & Library (+$24,900/year)
#5 Best Metro for Protective Service (+$19,500/year)
#5 Best Metro for Life, Physical, & Social Science (+$38,200/year)
#5 Best Metro for Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, & Media (+$22,300/year)
#6 Best Metro for Business & Financial Operations (+$36,600/year)
#6 Best Metro for Installation, Maintenance, & Repair (+$18,400/year)
#9 Best Metro for Production (+$11,200/year)
#10 Best Metro for Computer & Mathematical (+$47,900/year)

Data from Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census, Tax Foundation and MIT Living Wage Calculator was used for the study. Read the full study and methodology.

Niche’s ranking of Best Places to Live in Connecticut placed West Hartford in first place. Niche rigorously analyzes dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school, college, and neighborhood in the U.S.

The Crazy Tourist featured West Hartford among the 15 Best Places to Live in Connecticut.

West Hartford is a charming and affordable suburb of the state capital. The median home value here is around $313,500. Residents and neighboring towns say that there is a lot to love about this area and that it is an ideal location to situate yourself to raise a family. The town is safe and secure and there are plenty of activities to offer for people of all ages.

SafeWise ranked West Hartford on its Top 20 Safest Cities in Connecticut based on FBI crime report statistics and population data. SafeWise also ranked West Hartford #13 in the nation for Safest College Towns in America.

Kiplinger's Finance Magazine ranking of Best Cities in the Nation for the Next Decade focused on places that specialized in out-of-the-box thinking. It became clear that West Hartford had three elements of the innovation factor: smart people, great ideas and collaboration. Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine also selected West Hartford for its Top 10 Great Cities for Raising Families. West Hartford was selected because of its low crime, top-ranked schools (public and private), proximity to major cities, range of parks and historic sites, and vibrant downtown.

Family Circle magazine named West Hartford one of America's 10 Best Towns for Families.

Hartford Magazine ranked towns in the Greater Hartford region and West Hartford came out #1 Overall, #1 in the large town category, #1 Best for Families, #1 Best for Seniors, #1 Most Affluent, and #1 Most Educated.

In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report for Best High Schools in the nation, both Conard and Hall high schools received GOLD medals (500 awarded out of over 29,000 schools measured), and, fittingly, were ranked right next to each other, almost as twins, even in the national rankings. The ranking in the nation was Hall #533, Conard #566 and in Connecticut, Hall #12 and Conard #14.

TravelandLeisure.com on-line magazine said West Hartford is “One of the Coolest Suburbs Worth a Visit.” The West Hartford Reservoir was called “West Hartford’s version of Central Park! The magazine also noted the town’s vacation-worthy hot spots with cutting-edge restaurants, great shopping, and plenty of parking.

West Hartford was named a “Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community” by The League of American Bicyclists (2017-2020).  The Bronze award recognizes West Hartford’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through promotion, education, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.

Hartford Magazine’s  “Best of Hartford” edition readers rated the West Hartford Public Library as #1 library in the Greater Hartford area.

Movoto, an online real estate brokerage firm that is known for its unique approach to city-based research by major news organizations such as Forbes and U.S. News, published a ranking of the 10 best places to live in Connecticut with a population of over 10,000.  West Hartford was noted for its lower than average commute times and for its overall excellent quality of life score.  The Top 10 towns were ranked on total amenities, quality of life, crime, and weather.

Online PhD Programs created a list of the Top 101 cities with the most people having Doctorate degrees in American urban centers with populations of 50,000 or more. West Hartford ranked #46 in the nation!

The agency stated “the appeal of West Hartford for doctorate holders perhaps lies as much in the town’s location and sense of community as it does in the area’s academic opportunities.”

Retirement can present a chance for Americans to meet new people and enjoy new experiences. According to a recent study by SmartAsset, West Hartford is among the best places in Connecticut for retirement. The study factors in the number of recreation centers and retirement centers available to seniors as well as the percentage of the city’s population they represent.

Connecticut Magazine rated West Hartford among the 20 Great Places to Retire in Connecticut.  The article states, “This exemplary inner-ring suburb has reinvented itself with a colorful array of shops, restaurants, amusements and even a new 20-acre multipurpose commercial/residential development called Blue Back Square.”

Since 1974, Moody's Investor Services and Standard & Poors, the nation’s largest bond rating agencies, assigned their highest ratings, Aaa and AAA, to the Town of West Hartford’s general obligation bonds. The triple A rating is the highest rating given by the agencies and is based on the town's strength of management and conservative financial practices. West Hartford is one of only a few towns in the United States to hold the coveted Aaa/AAA ratings from both agencies.  Even fewer have maintained such ratings since 1974.

West Hartford is a Bronze-certified Sustainable CT community.

Sustainable CT is a voluntary certification program to recognize thriving and resilient Connecticut municipalities. An independently funded, grassroots, municipal effort, Sustainable CT provides a wide-ranging menu of best practices. Municipalities choose Sustainable CT actions, implement them, and earn points toward certification.

In order to achieve certification, municipalities must register and complete actions from each of the 9 action categories:

1. Thriving local economies
2. Well-stewarded land and natural resources
3. Vibrant and creative cultural ecosystems
4. Dynamic and resilient planning
5. Clean and diverse transportation systems and choices
6. Efficient physical infrastructure and operations
7. Strategic and inclusive public services
8. Healthy housing options
9. Inclusive and equitable community impacts

Sustainable CT also provides opportunities for grant funding to help communities promote economic well-being and enhance equity, all while respecting the finite capacity of the natural environment. The program is designed to support all Connecticut municipalities, regardless of size, geography or resources. Sustainable CT empowers municipalities to create high collective impact for current and future residents.

Since 2018, when the program began, 112 of 169 Connecticut municipalities have registered to join Sustainable CT. 61 of those communities have been certified at either the Bronze (42 communities) or the Silver (19 communities) levels. Certification is good for 3 years.

West Hartford is very proud to be a certified Sustainable CT community. We look forward to learning from and working with partners in our community, and throughout Connecticut, as we continuously strive to make our town a better, more sustainable place to live, work, and visit for everyone!

The Sustainability Advisory Group  

The Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG) was created by Council resolution on February 23, 2021. It is comprised of members that represent a diversity of voices and interests from across the community to assist with the preparation of the Town's application for the municipal certification program, to review and make recommendations on action steps, and to propose strategies and objectives for sustainability related initiatives and programs.