Northwest big winner in `best places’ survey

NEW YORK — Forget the 48 other states. If you’re looking for good living, go to the Pacific Northwest, young man, and bring your friends and family with you.

Four of the nation’s top eight places to live are in Washington state, while a fifth is next door in Oregon, according to the fourth annual Money magazine study of The Best Places to Live.

This year’s poll — done with help from a Portland, Ore., consulting firm –indicates West is best: the farthest east the top 10 goes is Columbia, Mo. It’s not until Wheeling, W.Va., at No. 12 that the survey gets anywhere near the Atlantic.

The Northeast does dominate the bottom of the list. The final five were Waterbury, Conn., Pawtucket, R.I., New Britain, Conn., Fall River, Mass., and — at No. 300 — Allentown-Bethlehem, Pa.

Portland, Maine, rose from 119th last year to 78th on this year’s list. Bangor was not on the list.

Top of the list, A-No. 1, king of the hill, was Bremerton, Wash., a town of 38,000 in a metropolitan area of 180,900.

Why Bremerton, you ask? “A pristine environment, plentiful jobs, low taxes, housing appreciation, arts and leisure activities galore — plus lower house prices and reduced workday stress,” answers Money.

Two past winners, Nashua, N.H., and Danbury, Conn., were victims of “the bursting of the Northeast’s economic balloon.” Nashua, No. 1 in 1987, fell from 5 last year to 133; Danbury went from No. 2 last year to 66.

The magazine’s methodology remained the same. A sample of 252 Money magazine readers rated the importance of 44 regional characteristics on a scale of 1 to 10.

The most important things to the readers were clean water, low crime, clean air, number of doctors and availability of hospitals.