South Kingstown #1: RI’s Best Communities 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
South Kingstown
It took three years, but this varied, beautiful South County gem has made its way to the very top of the rankings, as it arrives in 2012 at the #1 spot. What's working here, besides an ever-growing university culture courtesy of URI? How about 10 miles of unspoiled beaches, historic villages, nearly a third of the town's land preserved as open space, plus high test scores, lower taxes, and a strong arts & culture quotient? That's pretty much everything you want in a town. Plus, piping plovers.
South Kingstown wins overall by strong numbers on a variety of factors, but even more so, it's that balance that moves it ahead. For a town with such a strong Arts & Culture plus Restaurants & Bars ranking (#5 on both counts), South Kingstown also ranks high in Safety (#6), and Education (#9). For schools with a Top 10 performance, an Affordability ranking of #26 isn't as hard to swallow. It's that kind of balance, once again. Throw in Theatre by the Sea, and the lively center of Wakefield, and it's pretty near perfect down there.
South Kingstown by the numbers
Established: 1657
Population: 30,639
Median household income: $71,192
Median housing price: $290,000
2012 Best Communities rankings
Overall ranking: 1
Affordability ranking: 26
Education ranking: 9
Economic condition ranking: 13
Safety ranking: 6
Arts & Culture ranking: 5
Restaurants & Bars ranking: 5
History in a nutshell:
Before its incorporation as a separate town, South Kingstown was a part of Kings Town along with North Kingstown and Narragansett. It was in the Kings Town area where the Narragansett and Niantic Indians lived. The first settlement in this area was located in South Kingstown and it was here in 1675 that colonial soldiers gave King Philip his greatest defeat in the Metacom War. While farming was the main activity in the early periods, industry rose with the help of the Wakefield Manufacturing Company and the Peace Dale Mill. South Kingstown became an intellectual hub for young students as well when the Rhode Island Collage of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts was founded in 1892. Today, the community has experienced great residential expansion and population influx. There is a great drive for continued industrial growth and a continuation of its place as a popular destination for summer resorts.
Famous residents:
Oliver Hazard Perry
Kate French, actress
Erika Van Pelt, American Idol 2012 tenth place finalist
Famous residents source: Wikipedia
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Comments:
Caroline Evans
9:57am on Friday, June 29, 2012
In all reality.... these kind of rating systems are a sad joke.
It is someone with no ideas looking to pick up some grant money or sell an article or two and/or are marketing hype by real estate brokers looking for some ad copy and free positive publicity for their market area..
The ratings are inevitably arbitrary garbage dreamed up to yield foregone conclusions.... the foregone conclusion depending on the motives of the concluder.
Caroline Evans
10:05am on Friday, June 29, 2012
So far as jokes go.... imagine how defective a rating system is that grant bankrupt, rundown, debt-riddled, nearly bankrupt, nightmare like Providence as the 3rd best place to live in RI.
There is a broke town run by corrupt officials... reduced to penury by lazy unproductive unqualified over-unionized govt employees in wholly corrupted unions.
And THIS filthy run down pesthole is the 3rd best place in RI??????
And so.... we can strongly suspect this is some real estate clowns trying to move product to gullibles from elsewhere who might be stupid enough to buy into the survey's results.