For those looking to put down roots in Pennsylvania, Warren is a top spot.

According to a Wallethub listing of 2016s Best Places for Families to Live in Pennsylvania, Warren is number 10 out of 129 cities.

That’s a big deal for the people in charge of promoting the county.

“Any publication which promotes our community as being in the top 10 of places to live in Pennsylvania is absolutely helpful to our efforts to recruit new residents,” Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Jim Decker said. “I feel this assessment provides substance to our beliefs and statements regarding the ‘livability’ of Warren County.”

Neither Decker nor Warren County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Dave Sherman were contacted for information, which, if it is true for all of the cities is a positive factor.

“We have never been approached to provide information or funding towards the study so as far as I am aware this is as unbiased as possible,” Decker said. “On the basis that the data evaluated is equal for each community evaluated I would say that this is a very meaningful assessment to those seeking communities to relocate to.”

Sherman fired up the list and the link to the bureau’s website and social media sites as soon as he got his hands on it.

“I’m going to figure out a way to get this in the hands of the attendees at our next two Outdoor Shows – in March and April,” he said. “We, as residents, can shout about Warren County from the highest mountaintops, but when an unbiased source conducts research in a handful of areas and independently ranks us in the top ten… out of 129? Maybe our credibility increases a little and we can confidently add an ‘I told you so’ to our doubters.”

“It confirms what many of us already know, and refutes what some doubters think they know,” Sherman said. “Many outsiders get it,” Sherman said. “I hung up the phone an hour ago with a man who is retiring and moving here this summer.”

The listing took several factors – from health and safety, fun, and education to affordability and socioeconomic environment – into account to develop a ‘score’ for each city.

Warren was tenth in both affordability and education, health and safety, 21st in family life and fun, and 60th in socioeconomic environment.

The family life and fun category is based on a combination of playgrounds, attractions including zoos, museums, and theaters, families with children under 18, weather, and commute times.

Education, health and safety takes into account the quality of the school system, high school graduation rate, air quality, number of pediatricians, children lacking health insurance, the violent crime rate, and the property crime rate.

Affordability isn’t strictly about the cost of housing and other commodities. The median annual family income is directly involved in the calculations, so housing – obviously cheaper in Warren County than in Upper St. Clair, Allegheny County – is actually more affordable for the more affluent populations in some high-rent and high-cost areas.

The socioeconomic environment includes divorce rate, percentage of two-parent families, poverty, unemployment, wealth gap, foreclosure rate, and food stamps.

The top three cities are all in Allegheny County – Franklin Park, Upper St. Clair, and Jefferson Hills.

According to the report, Franklin Park ranks first in both affordability and socioeconomic environment, 16th in education, health and safety, and 59th in family life and fun.

Darby, Delaware County, is 129th out of 129 on the list, but holds fourth place in the family life and fun category. It rated 127th in affordability and last in both education, health and safety, and socioeconomic environment.

Based on its scores in the four categories, Warren had a total score of 63.03. While the scores range from Darby’s 23.59 to Franklin Park’s 74.55, there are six other cities within one point of Warren’s total score and more than 30, including second place, within seven points.

Sherman is looking at the list, and the very close scores in the top 10, as a motivation to improve.

“We were .63 away from being top five?” Sherman said. “I mean, increase that Socio-Economic Rank just a little, and we jump one to five spots?”

“That’s doable, with a little work, and the first place I would hand that score to would be the Warren County School District, the Warren County Christian School, and Tidioute Charter School and ask, ‘What curriculum can we add, enhance, refine so that our future employees, our future citizens, our future taxpayers understand the impact of financial literacy in their lives?'” he said. “It all starts with education, from pre-school up, and we can start improving this score, and as a result, our residents’ lives, tomorrow.”

Although the list drove the thought, Sherman would rather see the result for the community than for a better number on that list.

“We don’t need to improve financial literacy in our schools for the sake of a study,” he said. “We need to improve financial literacy for the sake of everybody.”

“Props to the schools and their ranking in the study, but we need a little bit more from them, in an area of weakness,” Sherman said. “The second place I would go to would be the top ten employers in the county and simply ask them, can we do better? Can we avoid employees losing their homes, their jobs, etc., through educational opportunities?”

“Education doesn’t stop when you walk out of school for the last time,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s just beginning. Financially-challenged employees can be some of your most unproductive ones. You can’t just give it to them, but show them how to improve. Education, combined with employment opportunities, can do it over time.”