West Chester Township has been named by Money magazine as one of http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/” target=”_new”>
the 100 best places to live in America.
The community of 60,000 residents in southern Butler County was tapped as No. 32 on the list in the magazine’s August issue. It is the only local community in the rankings, which were released Monday.
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West Chester was noted for its community gathering center, The Square at Union Centre, and for its location between Cincinnati and Dayton. Also mentioned was West Chester’s bevy of corporate employers, the largest of which include General Electric Aviation, BAE Systems, the Cornerstone Group and West Chester Medical Center.
The magazine also cited West Chester’s KiteFest, DogFest and historic beer festival at Muhlhauser Barn.
Those events are public-private partnerships and highlight West Chester’s citizen-involvement approach to governing, said Judith Boyko, township administrator.
She also touted recent quality-of-life improvements such as the opening of West Chester Medical Center and University of Cincinnati Physicians.
“We have a residential base, we have infrastructure and institutional anchors,” Boyko said. “At the same time, we are very humbled by these external sources that see value in West Chester.”
The only other Ohio city on this year’s list is Mentor (No. 37), near Cleveland. In Kentucky, Owensboro is No. 93 on the list.
It is the first time a Tristate community has appeared in the rankings since 2007, when Mason was ranked No. 81.
That year, the Northbrook neighborhood of Colerain Township, North College Hill and Cheviot were on the magazine’s list of 25 towns with the most-affordable housing.
Oxford, home of Miami University, ranked fifth in 2007 on the list of towns with the highest percentage of single people, with 69.5 percent.
The top five towns in the 2010 rankings were: Eden Prairie, Minn.; Columbia/Ellicott City, Md.; Newton, Mass.; Bellevue, Wash.; and McKinney, Texas.
