Mt. Airy Takes the Top Honors – “Best Neighborhood in Philadelphia”
--CNN/Money Magazine
By Pamela Rogow
The word is out, at least in our community, a place where people talk: Money Magazine deemed Mt. Airy the best neighborhood in Philadelphia. Numero uno. That’s out of 110 or so neighborhoods here. Yo, I sez!
See the September issue for “Best Big-City Neighborhoods.”
The online piece explained something of the process of bestowing such honor. The print edition’s explaination is more detailed.
Either way, Money, which is owned by Time Inc, noted why Mt Airy trumped Chestnut Hill, a rivalry we generally avoid provoking these days. Think: affordability which was also mentioned in my telephone conversation last with senior reporter Susie Poppick.
Money Magazine has long produced annual lists like the “Best Place to Live” which lean toward suburbia. It’s the first time they’ve produced this list, which covers to 10 biggest cities.
Poppick explained that they began this project with technical resources, using data provider Neighborhood Scout and supplemental resources like Maponics and OnBoard Informatics, for each of the cities.
For the neighborhoods that rose to the top, the research team at Money looked for age diversity – “not average age but looking for an even spread.” Also good education scores, compared to U.S. school districts and neighborhoods. Racial and language diversity measures were factored in. NeighborScout provided a “family-friendly” score for the neighborhoods they were looking competitive – “We don’t know exactly what goes into their secret sauce, it’s propriety. We know it's a mix of factors like education, and more nuanced ones, like whether parents read to their kids."
Plus crime, of course.
“And housing – has it appreciated a little? It is a healthy appreciation but also affordable – knowing of course, that these factors push against each other. And not a lot of vacancies.” They created a formula that measures diversity of bedroom counts in the belief that an ideal place to live is neither all studio apartments nor all 10 bedroom homes.”
Other measures were designed for ease of living – “family friendly, walkability, features like green spaces, groceries, museums, shopping. Maponics calls this Points of Interest. Unemployment rates were also factored in.”
“It all begins with data,” Poppick underscored. And then a team of reporters heads to the top four neighborhoods in a city where they spend the day…
They focused on Washington Square West, East Falls, Graduate Hospital area and Mt. Airy. “We go in to make sure there isn’t anything we missed – a last step. The je ne se quois of visiting… we need to be a total expert but also need that extra special last ingredient which is visiting…”
Poppick described the appeal and drawbacks of the other three neighborhoods that rose to the top of their internal list. “But walking through Mt. Airy… Germantown Avenue is IN the center of the neighborhood… it’s very balanced, just the way the neighborhood was laid out. We found the Art Garage, walked in, kind of cool – We spoke to people in front of their homes, went to the coffee shop…
“Mt. Airy shone. It stood out.”
--CNN/Money Magazine
By Pamela Rogow
The word is out, at least in our community, a place where people talk: Money Magazine deemed Mt. Airy the best neighborhood in Philadelphia. Numero uno. That’s out of 110 or so neighborhoods here. Yo, I sez!
See the September issue for “Best Big-City Neighborhoods.”
The online piece explained something of the process of bestowing such honor. The print edition’s explaination is more detailed.
Either way, Money, which is owned by Time Inc, noted why Mt Airy trumped Chestnut Hill, a rivalry we generally avoid provoking these days. Think: affordability which was also mentioned in my telephone conversation last with senior reporter Susie Poppick.
Money Magazine has long produced annual lists like the “Best Place to Live” which lean toward suburbia. It’s the first time they’ve produced this list, which covers to 10 biggest cities.
Poppick explained that they began this project with technical resources, using data provider Neighborhood Scout and supplemental resources like Maponics and OnBoard Informatics, for each of the cities.
For the neighborhoods that rose to the top, the research team at Money looked for age diversity – “not average age but looking for an even spread.” Also good education scores, compared to U.S. school districts and neighborhoods. Racial and language diversity measures were factored in. NeighborScout provided a “family-friendly” score for the neighborhoods they were looking competitive – “We don’t know exactly what goes into their secret sauce, it’s propriety. We know it's a mix of factors like education, and more nuanced ones, like whether parents read to their kids."
Plus crime, of course.
“And housing – has it appreciated a little? It is a healthy appreciation but also affordable – knowing of course, that these factors push against each other. And not a lot of vacancies.” They created a formula that measures diversity of bedroom counts in the belief that an ideal place to live is neither all studio apartments nor all 10 bedroom homes.”
Other measures were designed for ease of living – “family friendly, walkability, features like green spaces, groceries, museums, shopping. Maponics calls this Points of Interest. Unemployment rates were also factored in.”
“It all begins with data,” Poppick underscored. And then a team of reporters heads to the top four neighborhoods in a city where they spend the day…
They focused on Washington Square West, East Falls, Graduate Hospital area and Mt. Airy. “We go in to make sure there isn’t anything we missed – a last step. The je ne se quois of visiting… we need to be a total expert but also need that extra special last ingredient which is visiting…”
Poppick described the appeal and drawbacks of the other three neighborhoods that rose to the top of their internal list. “But walking through Mt. Airy… Germantown Avenue is IN the center of the neighborhood… it’s very balanced, just the way the neighborhood was laid out. We found the Art Garage, walked in, kind of cool – We spoke to people in front of their homes, went to the coffee shop…
“Mt. Airy shone. It stood out.”
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