Moorestown Ranked Top Town (Again)

Moorestown is South Jersey's top town—and among the best in the state—and has one of the top-performing high schools in the region, according to two separate publications. 

In its list of the best places to live, NJ Monthly magazine ranked Moorestown No. 56 out of 514 municipalities, and the top town in South Jersey. Referencing the girls lacrosse team's undefeated, championship-winning 2013 season, the publication says Moorestown "fancies itself a town of winners."

The publication ranked the communities using a formula that incorporated (among other factors): residential taxes, crime rate, student proficiency on state-mandated standardized tests, and a "lifestyle factor" that took into account a variety of things, including the number of nearby hospitals, full-service restaurants and live performing arts theaters.

It's not the first time Moorestown has found itself among the region's elite communities. South Jersey Magazine has previously ranked the township among its "Top Towns." And few will forget that in 2005, Money magazine named Moorestown its best place to live in the country.

Speaking of South Jersey Magazine, in its "Top of the Class: 2013 Public High School Report Card," the publication ranked Moorestown No. 6 in the region for graduation rate (95.6 percent), behind Haddonfield Memorial High School, Cinnaminson High School and Shawnee High School, among others. 

Moorestown High School is also second in the region for average SAT score (1707), behind only Haddonfield (1741), and No. 1 for the number of AP classes offered/students taking (20/763).

The high school also recently received an "A" rating from Inside Jersey magazine (NJ.com), which ranked high schools from across the state.

When the Inside Jersey ranking came out, Board of Education President Don Misher said, while the district certainly appreciates the positive ratings and rankings, they "take them all in stride."

"Almost all of them use different data," he said, "and so you can't get overly excited or overly upset at any of them."

What do you think of the rankings? Should Moorestown be higher, or lower, or are they just right?