Making sense out of Money Sense mag poll

Finance publication lists Woodstock at 128 in Canada

By Mark Schadenberg

Money Sense magazine (www.moneysense.ca) must truly believe it rains less in Burlington compared to Woodstock.

I wrote about the Money Sense magazine last year and its rankings of best Canadian cities to call home.

Burlington and Oakville both had lofty positions then and continue to. Both are great communities – don’t get me wrong – they have terrific amenities and both are close to Toronto and Hamilton without actually feeling like a megalopolis.

Burlington is No. 3 and Oakville No. 5 in the Money Sense statistical calculation.

The other three in the top five are Alberta centres – Calgary, St Albert and Strathcona (in that order).

Where is Woodstock? Our geographical position at the 401 / 403 intersection has gained our community new industry in recent years, including Toyota, Sysco and Nova Steel, but in the Top 200 list The Friendly City falls from 68^th to 128^th in the rankings.

Complicating Methodology

Now, getting back to whether weather is a factor. The number of rainy days is one of several criteria Money Sense uses in its table. When it gathers up the crumbs from Canuck communities it positions Woodstock at 128. Some of the other weights on the scale include: whether you can ride a bicycle to work, how many days above freezing a city enjoys, what is the unemployment percent, how many doctors serve the area, what are the crime stats, and what is the average home price. Look at the magazine website link below to fully understand all the criteria.

My question is this. How does any city move up or down a chart by such significance in just one calendar year? The magazine does have a complicated methodology explanation.

Also, top news stories out of London’s economy always discuss their high unemployment numbers, yet The Forest City is 15^th on the list.  

Locally, Tillsonburg is listed as 113 (and that’s up from last year) and Ingersoll is 130.

Other highly touted Ontario cities (top 30) include:

6. Ottawa

10. Newmarket

13. Halton Hills

14. Stratford

15. London.

19. Kingston

22. Milton

23. Vaughan

26. Richmond Hill

28. Toronto

Maybe most surprising in the Top 200 list is that Summerside, PEI, is at 199

Also in our neighbourhood, Guelph is 41, Waterloo is 46, Kitchener is 68, Cambridge is 82, Brantford is 101, Haldimand is 138, and Norfolk is 170.

Finally, the lowest (worst ranked) Ontario community is Temiskaming at 178.

http://www.moneysense.ca/best-places-2013/

 

Great Community

Woodstock is a great place to reside and raise a family

To find out what Woodstock does offer, call me anytime

Mark Schadenberg

Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

(519) 537-1553