Newmarket named best place to live in York Region, 23rd in Canada

YorkRegion.com
June 2, 2015

An annual list of the best places to live in Canada keeps adding fuel to the friendly rivalry between Newmarket and Aurora.

This year, Newmarket ranked as the best place to live in York Region, according to MoneySense magazine, placing 23rd in Canada out of 209 communities listed. That's up eight places from last year, but still down from the high of 10th place attained in 2013.

"Newmarket is again one of Canada's best places to live," Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. "Newmarket has ranked in the top 25 for four of the past five years. While we have always known Newmarket is a special community, council will continue to take proactive steps to keep building a thriving and livable community. To our residents, staff and council, I say, 'Congratulations, well done'."

Aurora dropped six places on the list to 30th, settling for second-best in York this time around. However, it did rank as the eighth-richest place in Canada, with an average household net worth of $935,067.

All told, it was a banner year for York in the eyes of the editors of MoneySense, with every community that made the best places to live list gaining ground, except Aurora.

Richmond Hill was next up in 36th place, up from 50th, followed by Vaughan at 38th, up from 56th. Vaughan outranked Richmond Hill on the richest communities list, as the municipalities placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Vaughan has an average household net worth of $1,014,562, compared to Richmond Hill's $946,615.

Back on the main list, Markham jumped nine spots to 71st. It also ranked as the 10th richest community in the country, with an average household net worth of $918,633.

Whitchurch-Stouffville ranked 124th overall after missing out on the list last year, but it took the York Region crown on the richest communities list, placing fifth in Canada with an average household net worth of $1,037,252.

Georgina jumped up the best places to live list to 136th from 164th.

East Gwillimbury and King Township were not represented on the list.

MoneySense contributors considered 34 factors in determining the list, including wealth, demographics, commute, weather, crime, amenities, health care, culture and taxation.

Boucherville, Que. topped the list this year.

Along with the top 10 richest places in the country, MoneySense also ranked the 10 best places to retire, to raise kids and for new immigrants, but York was shut out of the latter top 10 lists.

Ottawa was named best place to retire; St. Albert, Alta., the best place to raise kids; Saanich, B.C., the best place for new immigrants; and West Vancouver, B.C., the richest, with an average household net worth of $3,152,364.

SIDEBAR
For the full MoneySense article, visit the magazine's website.