Westfield ranked best US suburb to move to in 2021 (Indianapolis: best suburbs, crime)

[Born 2 Roll]

Westfield has been ranked by Homes.com as the top suburb to relocate to in the U.S.

In its write-up, Homes.com said, “Westfield provides a charming mix of newly constructed, craftsman-style homes, at listing prices that are extremely reasonable in respect to the suburb’s median annual household income.”...

... In addition to being the top-ranked suburb, the Hamilton County community also scores high for being conducive for remote work, coming in second behind Leesburg, Virginia.

Westfield tops list for best U.S. suburb (WISH-TV Indianapolis)

Westfield ranked best suburb to move to in 2021 - According to Homes.com, Westfield has the highest work-from-home score among all suburbs in the research. (WTHR-TV Indianapolis)

[Berteau]

Those awards are all BS. There’s is no “best suburb” in the country and how would you even know that out of all the suburbs in the US? No suburb in Indiana is the best in the country. Most don’t have their own large charming downtowns with locally owned places and none have train access downtown. Does Westfield have popular well known free concerts and festivals during the summer? Do they have large corporate employers? Does it have great weather??

The overall scores are based on home prices, size of houses, yard size, income to housing price ratio, work-from-home radio, schools, crime and diversity.

So basically It’s all based on low cost of living which does not make you a best suburb. That’s nice but doesn’t say anything about actually living there and what it offers. Mexico has a low cost of living. They also misspelled “ratio”.

[sheerbliss]

Typical reasons people move to the suburbs are to get larger, cheaper houses, better schools and lower crime than they can in urban areas. Since many public schools are still closed or doing distance learning, there's a big need for parents to work from home.

How do they judge the best suburbs? They come up with a list of criteria that people typically want from a suburb, weight those criteria, plug in the data for as many suburbs as they can, and see which ones come out with the highest scores. And no, low COL doesn't make a suburb the best--it often makes it a high-crime area with poor schools.

[indy_317]

Originally Posted by Berteau

The overall scores are based on home prices, size of houses, yard size, income to housing price ratio, work-from-home radio, schools, crime and diversity.

So basically It’s all based on low cost of living which does not make you a best suburb. That’s nice but doesn’t say anything about actually living there and what it offers. Mexico has a low cost of living. They also misspelled “ratio”.

How does work-from-home, schools, crime, and diversity connect to "so basically it's all based on low cost of living?" When one looks at likely wages available to Westfield residents compared to the cost of housing, transportation, etc. for someone to live in Westfield, the phrase "low cost of living" isn't what comes to mind. I've said it before, the larger metros areas in Indiana really aren't low-costs anymore. Most of the growth areas in the Midwest, the larger metros, have likely lost a lot of their low-cost bragging rights over the last decade. The term that should be used is affordability. These areas are much more affordable than other areas of the country, but they are no longer "low cost."

[Berteau]

Originally Posted by indy_317

How does work-from-home, schools, crime, and diversity connect to "so basically it's all based on low cost of living?" ."

Isn’t that every average suburb in America? Maybe except for the diversity part?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by indy_317

How does work-from-home, schools, crime, and diversity connect to "so basically it's all based on low cost of living?" When one looks at likely wages available to Westfield residents compared to the cost of housing, transportation, etc. for someone to live in Westfield, the phrase "low cost of living" isn't what comes to mind. I've said it before, the larger metros areas in Indiana really aren't low-costs anymore. Most of the growth areas in the Midwest, the larger metros, have likely lost a lot of their low-cost bragging rights over the last decade. The term that should be used is affordability. These areas are much more affordable than other areas of the country, but they are no longer "low cost."

I'm not sure why you think Westfield should automatically remain a low cost of living area as the median household income there is one of the highest in the state. Very high median household incomes do not mean "affordable housing prices," but they are quite competitive with other areas of the country that have similar median household incomes or less.

[RationalExpectations]

Yeah, but - Indiana. <mic drop>.

[sheerbliss]

Six years ago, I thoroughly researched Indianapolis when I was contemplating selling my overpriced house in wildly overrated Denver. Indy being in the well-run state of Indiana was a feature, not a bug. I'm happy I moved here.

And if I ever feel like going to the mountains, I can fly out there instead of creeping along on I-70.

[Toxic Toast]

People love to hate on Indiana, but it is as remarkable and unremarkable as just about every state in the Midwest. I also do take the initial complaints in this case with a grain of salt considering the source. I don't care for the prevailing politics across the state, but otherwise, Indiana is fine.

Although, I do agree that most of these lists are nothing but click bait and generally based on nothing of intrinsic value.

[Berteau]

Originally Posted by sheerbliss

Six years ago, I thoroughly researched Indianapolis when I was contemplating selling my overpriced house in wildly overrated Denver. Indy being in the well-run state of Indiana was a feature, not a bug. I'm happy I moved here.

And if I ever feel like going to the mountains, I can fly out there instead of creeping along on I-70.

Flying out there doesn’t work well for people who want to go to or see the mountains weekly or monthly. Or people who want to white water raft or be around others who want that lifestyle.