Centre Wellington ranked 52nd and Erin ranked 76th in Canada’s best places to live in 2015.
The study, conducted by MoneySense, evaluated 209 cities and towns across Canada based on 34 categories.
The study notes Centre Wellington’s low unemployment, high income, healthy population growth, low crime, and a strong arts and Sports community as factors in the township’s ranking. Centre Wellington’s position has increased since the 2014 study, in which it ranked 59th.
Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton attributes the rise to the municipality’s focus on infrastructure renewal, prioritized spending and economic development.
“I am most happy to see that we have leapt from 59th to 52nd in one year … we are trending in the right direction,” said Linton.
“The other positive I take from this study is that we are the top ranked township in Wellington County.”
Erin, new to the study this year, achieved its ranking due to many of the same qualities as Centre Wellington.
“It’s not surprising because, being in real estate for 10 years, I had all kinds of people that would come and see and say ‘you got to get me into this town, I love this area,’” said Erin Mayor Allan Alls.
However, the study noted Erin has not grown substantially over the years, with a 1.3 per cent growth rate, compared to the ideal rate of 7.5%.
Neither municipality ranked well in the following categories: affordable housing, access to health care, low taxes and accessible transit.
“We know we have to work with the county to address areas like affordable housing and transit,” said Linton.
“As far as health care, the new hospital will result in significant benefits to Centre Wellington and the surrounding area.”
Other area municipalities on the 2015 list include Guelph (ranked 15th), Waterloo (16th), Kitchener (40th), Caledon (56th), Cambridge (90th) and Orangeville (97th).
A perfect score for the study is 103 points. The best place to live 2015, Boucherville, a suburb of Montreal, only received 71.94 points, according to the study.
