Middleburg ranked as 94th best suburb in U.S.

An investment website has ranked Middleburg in the top 20% of suburbs in the U.S.

Smart Asset ranked 494 communities that lie between 15 minutes and one hour by car to cities with populations of 250,000 or more.

The study, which looked at communities with populations between 5,000 and 100,000, analyzed metrics within three groups: jobs, affordability and livability.

“For our jobs score,” the website said, “we considered five metrics: median household income, five-year income growth, 10-year employment growth, job diversity and unemployment rate.”

For affordability, the study compiled housing costs relative to income, home value-to-income ratio, average effective property tax rate and estimated annual cost of living for an individual.

Livability included high school graduation rates, dining and entertainment establishments as a percentage of all establishments and violent and property crimes per 100,000 people.

The Clay County community ranked 89th in affordability with a score of 72.91. Anadarko, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, led the category with a score of 100.

Middleburg ranked 163rd in jobs with 65.37, behind the Indianapolis suburb of Brownsburg, Indiana, which set the curve with 100.

The Milwaukee suburb of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, set the pace in livability with a score of 100. Middleburg placed 263rd in the category, scoring 51.41.

Other Jacksonville-area communities making the list were Fernandina Beach, ranked 11th; St. Marys, Georgia, ranked 44th; Yulee, ranked 82nd; St. Augustine Beach, ranked 101; Macclenny, rated 134, St. Augustine, ranked 143; Orange Park, ranked 173; Neptune Beach, ranked at 250, Jacksonville Beach, ranked at 254; Atlantic Beach, rated at 293 and Starke, ranked at 451.