The Berkshire & Bennington County Sweet Spots
Berkshires and Vermont Real Estate- Safety is Now Added to All the Other Reasons for Choosing to Live Here
Safest places to live in the nation. 
Did you know that “according to a report by personal finance Web site WalletHub” as reported by Laurie Kulikowski, Vermont is #1 and Massachusetts is #2 among the 50 states and DC for personal safety? Wow, that doesn’t catch me completely by surprise but it is fabulous confirmation as to one more reason why living in this Berkshire and Southern Vermont region is so sensible, appealing and just plain good for you. “Far from the madding crowd” we live, with few traffic lights, no traffic jams, no freeways or high speed commutes, no homeless living under bridges and overpasses, no heavy air pollution.
Instead what have in abundance are open well maintained roads, friendly helpful police, fire and ambulance services, hospitals and doctors when needed, clean air, blue sky, loads of recreational options, outstanding schools, world class cultural options, pedestrian friendly shopping streets and overall a healthier less hectic and low stress life style.
I didn’t see any figures in the article for longevity but the average life span of Berkshire and Bennington County residents has to be higher than much of the nation. A high quality of life and low stress environment are clearly contributing factors to longevity.
Unlike parts of Florida however, just because people live a long, productive and active life here doesn’t mean this is an old age community. In fact by far the largest age band in Williamstown’s population is 20-24, due in part to the presence of Williams College, consistently taking top honors among the nation’s colleges.
Besides the largest community in Berkshire County, Pittsfield, we have delightful small and larger towns to attract including Great Barrington to the south, Lenox with Tanglewood and Kripalu, Stockbridge with the Red Lion Inn and to the north Williamstown home of the Clark Art Institue and Williams College, North Adams featuring access to the state’s tallest peak, Mt. Greylock and the world’s largest museum of contemporary art, MASSMOCA.
Berkshire County, MA and neighboring southern Vermont should definitely be on your priority list if looking for quality of life including personal safety. This area is not prone to damaging earthquakes or horrific storms or tornadoes, we don’t have massive wildfires or destructive mudslides and we can safely say tsunami’s are not likely to ever come this far ashore and hurricanes have lost their main punch by the time they arrive here. People inclined to cause mayhem wouldn’t find any suitable targets here either but those seeking superb music, art, theatre, dance, skiing, hiking, biking, golf, boating or just plain relaxing in a serenely beautiful environment are to be found in numbers.
Care to join us?
Paul Harsch, Pres. Harsch Associates
© 2016