Saratoga News

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Saratoga in nation's top 1 percent in income, college-educated adults

ByShannon Burkey

Saratoga is in the top 1 percent in the nation for having more adults who have earned college degrees than most other cities in the country, according to the website, citytowninfo.com.

The website started two years ago as a way to offer comparative information about communities. Saratoga is one of about 20,000 cities featured on the site, and along with naming the city a top place for college-educated adults to live, the site has numerous other statistics and information on Saratoga's people, employment, housing and crime, among other things.

"There is a lot of worthwhile information on there for Saratogans to know," Mayor Aileen Kao said. "This is also a great way for people who are interested in Saratoga to learn more about it."

The website, operated by Massachusetts-based Moving Traffic Inc., comes to its conclusions by looking over raw data from a variety of government databases and cross-referencing that data with cities across the country.

"There are a lot of databases out there and we're good at acquiring the information and doing something with it," said Eric Enge, vice president of marketing for Moving Traffic. "We like to analyze it and extract extra meaning from it. We're like an almanac."

Enge said not only is the site a great resource for the people of Saratoga to learn more about their city, it is also a tool for people who plan to relocate. If a Saratoga resident plans to move, the site offers its PlaceMatch feature that the resident can use to find cities across the country most similar to Saratoga.

"It's just a great little research tool for people," Enge said.

Not only is Saratoga a top city for the educated, it is also a city comprised of mostly married couples. According to the site, 71 percent of the adults who live in the city are married, and the median family income is $155,246.

Other information the site gathered is that Saratoga is largely a Democratic city. In the 2004 presidential election, residents donated more money to John Kerry than to any other candidate. And overall, the Democratic Party received more donations from residents, who gave $426,917 vs. the $253,192 that they gave to the Republican Party.

Saratoga also made it into the top 1 percent in the nation for the most well-paid men and the highest median family income; the top 2 percent for the most well-paid women; and the top 3 percent for the lowest violent crime rate and the lowest property crime rate.

Similar cities across the nation include Vienna, Va.; Closter, N.J.; Lake Forest Park, Wash.; and Leonia, N.J.

The website is linked on the city's website and can be a useful tool for residents desiring to learn a little more about the place they call home.

"They have a lot of stuff about us, and I think it is a good thing to have," Kao said. "And it provides some visibility for us, too.