Does Money Sense magazine poll make sense

Woodstock ranked 68th among Canadian cities to live in

Money Sense magazine (moneysense.ca) is receiving a lot of free press across Canada this week -- and rightfully so.
The current edition includes quite a thorough discussion on this country's best cities in 2012 to live in.
Money Sense, which is part of the Rogers family of publications, lists Woodstock as No 68 in a standing of 190 communities from coast-to-coast.
Taking last place, by the way, is New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
Ottawa is No 1 for the third year in a row. The second and third from the top are also in Ontario -- Burlington followed by Kingston. Moving quickly into the top 10 are Regina at 4 and Halifax at 5. The largest leap from the previous poll is Red Deer, Alberta, as it moves up to 9 from 96.
Others in top 10 are: 6. Brandon, 7. Fredericton, 8. Edmonton, and 10. Winnipeg
Anyone living in the centre of Oxford County in our community of close to 40,000 would wonder why Woodstock was at 68 -- only 2 positions higher than Stratford with its obviously over-priced real estate market. What is the methodology . . . the criteria . . . the scorecard . . . the barometer . . . the number crunching formula?
Many aspects of lifestyle were considered including affordable living and whether or not you could ride a bike to work. The spectrum included educational opportunities, average family income, crime rates, the weather, the number of doctors per capita, and even how many people drove new cars. There were 22 categories considered, so a low score in one area could be off-set by a much higher ranking elsewhere.
The standing of all categories can easily be seen in the full chart published online, but it would appear Woodstock scores quite well in growth and population growth, but very low in the availability of doctors. The medical question could be answered with the fact that many living locally seeking a specific specialist would easily travel to very large London hospitals, whereas someone living in Sudbury would require a specialist to be in Sudbury.
Anomalies always jump of the page in such surveys. For example, why is Woodstock 82 for weather but Stratford is 155, Kitchener 98 (75th overall ranking), Brantford 26 (32 overall), Hamilton 45 (77 overall), Cambridge 130 (117), Ingersoll 77 (119), Tillsonburg 91 (150), London 128 (36th overall), and Burlington 2nd in weather (2nd overall). By the way, Oakville was No 1 ranked for weather. Should the weather vote have Leamington or Windsor in top spot? Should these weather numbers not be all very close in the poll's scale of 1st to 190th. If London had a higher score than 128th in weather, would their overall score be in the Top 20?
As a sports guy, I'm also a stats fanatic so these discrepancies jump off the page.
At the end of the day, any poll or study such is this is food for thought. Woodstock is almost ranked in the top one-third and that's a good score.
If you're considering a move, and you've stumbled upon this blog, call me anytime and I'll quickly give you more than 20 reasons why Woodstock is a great place to live.