Gloucester Twp. Falls in Magazine's Rankings

South Jersey Magazine dropped Gloucester Township from its 2012 rankings of the top 25 municipalities in the tri-county area, after the township had cracked the list for the first time last year.

There's also a changing of the guard with the South Jersey Magazine "Top Towns 2012."

Gloucester Township was rated the 25th best town in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties in the publication's 2011 rankings, but was not ranked this year.

Only five Camden County municipalities cracked the magazine's top 25 this year. They are Haddonfield (2), Haddon Township (4) Cherry Hill (6), Voorhees (7) and Waterford (18).

Medford, Burlington County, has supplanted perennial No. 1 Haddonfield as South Jersey's best town, according to the publication.

South Jersey Magazine ranked Gloucester Township the seventh-best municipality in Camden County in its 2012 rankings, which are published in the publication's May issue. The township was rated the sixth-best town in Camden County in 2011 and its ninth best in 2009 and 2010.

Gloucester Township also ranked this year in two other categories among towns in the tri-county area with more than 8,000 residents:

• No. 21 in top property values, down from No. 5 a year ago
• No. 23 in lowest residential taxes per average residential value, down from No. 19 in 2011

South Jersey Magazine staffers worked with Niranjan Pati, of Rowan University's Rohrer College of Business, to analyze data from 2011 on residential property values, residential taxes per average residential value, crime incidents reported per 1,000 people, and high school performance indicators (SAT scores, proportion of college-bound graduates, and the rate at which students passed the statewide proficiency test) to come up with its rankings.

TOP 10 CAMDEN COUNTY TOWNS

1. Haddonfield
2. Haddon Township
3. Cherry Hill
4. Voorhees
5. Waterford
6. Merchantville
7. Gloucester Township
8. Bellmawr
9. Collingswood
10. Runnemede

TOP 25 SOUTH JERSEY TOWNS

1. Medford
2. Haddonfield
3. West Deptford
4. Haddon Township
5. Moorestown
6. Cherry Hill
7. Voorhees
8. Woolwich
9. Mount Laurel
10. Mansfield
11. Westampton
12. Harrison Township
13. Edgewater Park
14. Mantua
15. Southampton
16. East Greenwich
17. Mount Holly
18. Waterford
19. Burlington Township
20. Marlton
21. Glassboro
22. Florence
23. Delran
24. Cinnaminson
25. Pitman