Columbia has made another top 10 list as the real estate blog Movoto has named it one of the "most caring suburbs" in the country.
Columbia came in sixth and was one of three Maryland communities to make it -- the other two were Silver Spring, which captured the top spot, and Frederick, which was fifth.
The data used to compile the list was gathered from the U.S. Census and FBI Crime reports. There were six key criteria, according to the blog:
- Student-counselor ratio
- Crimes per 100,000 people (the lower the better)
- Pet shelters and rescue per capita
- Community services per capita
- Mental health counselors and therapists per capita
- Percent of workers who carpool (caring for the environment)
Columbia scored highly in mental health services, student-to-counselor ratio and community services. Its ranking was hurt by its crime rate and carpooling percentage.
The blog ranked 109 suburbs for the report, including Ellicott City, which came in 39th. Click here to read the blog post in full.