Best Places to Live in CT 2016: Where Does Portland Rank?

By BRIAN MCCREADY (Patch Staff)

Spring is a good time to release rankings on the best places to live, because this is the time when houses go back on the market and people begin the search for a place they can call “home.”

And right on cue, AreaVibes, a site that uses data to determine the best places to live, just released their findings on the top 25 places to live in Connecticut.

The sites says it determines a community's livability score through its unique algorithm, which includes cost of living, crime, education, employment, housing and weather.

According to its findings, Darien is the best place to live in Connecticut, with a total livability score of 86 out of 100. Crime in Darien is 58-percent lower than the state average and the high school graduation rate is 14-percent higher than the state average.

The median home value is 376-percent higher than the average in the state and the median household income is 189-percent higher than Connecticut’s average, the website finds.

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AreaVibes uses an interactive map to highlight its findings. You can filter through several different tabs to see which town has the lowest crime rates in Connecticut, the best high school graduation rates and more.

For example, the lowest crime in Connecticut is at Groton Long Point, followed by Ridgefield. Southport is No. 4; Madison Center, No. 6; West Simsbury, No. 8; and Guilford Center, No. 10.

The best places to live for education are: Groton Long Point, No. 2; Darien, No. 3; Old Greenwich, No. 5; Riverside, No. 6; and Westport, No. 7; according to AreaVibes.

Overall, AreaVibes determined these are the top 25 best places to live in Connecticut (livability score in parentheses):

1. Darien (86)
2. Riverside (85)
3. Westport (85)
4. Ridgefield (84)
5. Old Greenwich (84)
6. Cos Cob (84)
7. Southport (84)
8. Greenwich (83)
9. Glenville (82)
10. Mystic (82)
11. Portland (82)
12. Guilford Center (82)
13. Shelton (82)
14. Pemberwick (81)
15. Essex Village (81)
16. Old Saybrook Center (81)
17. West Hartford (81)
18. Bethel (80)
19. North Haven (80)
20. Madison Center (80)
21. Newtown (80)
22. Glastonbury Center (80)
23. Milford (80)
24. Trumbull (80)
25. Wethersfield (80)

To access the interactive map and go in-depth to view why each community earned its ranking, visit AreaVibes’ list of best places to live in Connecticut.

Do you agree with the findings? Let us know in the comment section below.

Photo of Portland, Conn. by kathyschrock, via flickr creative commons