What’s the best community in Central Mass? That’s what the site Go Local Worcester recently set out to determine. They crunched the numbers, counted the restaurants and museums, reviewed MCAS data, and looked at housing and crime statistics. Of the 72 communities in Central Mass, Southborough came in…19th.
Southborough got a high ranking for its economic condition (#2) and for arts and culture (#15), but we were dinged for affordability (#48) and – of all things – crime (#60).
Go Local Worcester said they used the latest FBI data for violent crime and property crime in their ranking. According to their interpretation, Southborough is significantly less safe than neighbors Marlborough (#45 in safety), Westborough (#30 in safety), Northborough (#7 in safety), and Hopkinton (#5 in safety). Hmm. I’m not sure I buy it.
But anyway, here’s the list of the top 10 communities in Central Mass according to Go Local Worcester. Follow the links to read more about each.
10. Bolton
9. Westborough
8. Sutton
7. Holden
6. Northborough
5. Paxton
4. Hopkinton
3. Shrewsbury
2. Harvard
1. Worcester
So what do you think? Did Go Local Worcester get it right? What do you think of the crime rankings? Do you feel Southborough is less safe than its neighbors? Share your thoughts in the comments.
60th? 15 slots after Marlborough? I ain’t buying that crime stat either.
Splitting hairs, no? I thought Forbes rated Southborough as one of the better communities in the USA to raise a family.
“Go Local Worcester” has Worcester at #1? What a shocker…
What a surprise. . .
A pseudo – PR publication under the name of “Go Local Worcester” ranks Worcester as the #1 Central Mass community . . . zzzzzz . . . . zzzzzzzzz.
I hate to suggest this, but I think that while a 2 edged sword, property prices suggest a level of desirability. 2 edged in the sense that you get killed with property taxes and by having high incomes people are not motivated to turn up to vote against excess.
These “Best Places” ratings have no correlation to reality.
When I was in graduate school many years ago, I analyzed the under-reporting of sex crime statistics by colleges and universities. I recall that these FBI crime statistics, officially called the “The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program”, are summaries of crime reporting supplied by the local police departments.
The term “The Uniform Crime Reporting ” is at best, an oxymoron since there is no such thing as “Uniform” crime reporting. Every police agency decides what to report and what to call that event. Larger departments do not have the resources to report every crime and in some instances, there is political pressure to under-report crime.
In some cases, police agencies over report statistics to simply inflate their statistics to justify the need for additional personnel.
One exception to this inaccurate and over/under reporting is the annual review of Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted. Significant analysis is brought to bear on these crimes.
If you would like to read the detail behind these statistics, look at this link:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr/
OMG