“The Best Place to Live in the Berkshires”…Where Did Your Town Rank

Niche, an internet company is known for giving people insight into schools, companies, and neighborhoods in local communities across the country recently analyzed the Berkshires and released “The Best Places to Live in the Berkshires.”

According to the Niche website, they utilize public data from sources from the U.S. Census to the FBI.  They focus on the city or town’s cost of living, crime rate, diversity, housing, weather, outdoor activities, commute time, schools, and a host of others according to their website.

“The Best Places to Live in the Berkshires” report was released by Niche this year. According to their report “The Best Place to Live in the Berkshires” is in Williamstown.  The overall grade was an A+ and so was their rating for Williamstown’s public schools. The lowest grade out of the 12 categories listed was a C for Williamstown’s weather. Something of course out of their control.

According to the Niche Study, Williamstown is the Best Place to Live in the Berkshires

Coming in as the 2^nd best place to live in the Berkshires was Lenox, scoring high for public schools, outdoor activities, and a good place for families.  Rounding out the top 5, in 3^rd place was Lanesborough, followed by Richmond in 4^th and West Stockbridge in 5^th.

Moving to the top 10 in the Niche study, at #6 was Stockbridge, 7^th Dalton, 8^th Lee, 9^th Great Barrington, and the 10^th best place to live in the Berkshires according to Niche is Hinsdale.  All of the top 10 communities received an overall score of at least a B.  Only Williamstown at #1 received an overscore of an A+.

Pittsfield and North Adams did not make it into the Top 10 in the Niche Study

Some of the most populated communities in the Berkshires including Pittsfield and North Adams both registered an overall score of B- according to the Niche report.  This post only scratches the surface.  There is a lot more detailed information included in the Niche report that you can access by clicking on this link to “The Best Place to Live in the Berkshires.”