Rhode Island is the ring box of places, the truffle of territories, the Isla Fisher of states. What we’re getting at here is, just because it’s tiny, that doesn’t mean it isn’t packed with awesome. And specifically, awesome excitement, when it comes to all things culture, nightlife, and food.
But which of Little Rhody’s little places was the biggest on excitement? According to the latest Saturday-night-scientific analysis here at the
Movoto Real Estate Blog, that honor goes to none other than Newport.
Of course, this little (yet relatively big for Rhode Island) city had some big competition in this relatively tiny state. Anyway, before this gets any more confusing, here are the 10 most exciting places in Rhode Island:
1.
City of Newport
2.
Village of Chepachet
3.
Town of Westerly
4. CDP of Harrisville
5.
City of Woonsocket
6.
City of Providence
7.
City of Central Falls
8.
Town of Tiverton
9.
CDP of Pascoag
10.
Village of Hope Valley
You might have been expecting Newport in No. 1. After all, it may be a small city, but for Rhode Island, it’s practically a kingdom. But Chepachet? Harrisville? Can you even find these places on map?
The answer to that is yes—a very zoomed in map. Speaking of zooming in, in the next paragraphs we’re going to take a closer look at just how we came up with this ranking and why each of these places are more exciting than the rest.
How We Created This Ranking
We started this exciting journey by gathering up all of the most populated places in Rhode Island, which left us with a total of 24 places to look at. Then, we used the 2010 U.S. Census and business listings to research each place according to the following eight criteria:
- Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
- Live music venues per capita
- Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
- Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
- Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
- Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
- Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
- Population density (the higher the better)
We then ranked each place with with a score from one to 24, according to the above criteria, where the lower the number was, the better its score. We averaged these rankings into an overall
Big Deal Score, where, again, the lowest number was our most exciting place.
To see more than just these top 10, you can head to the bottom of the post to see how all 24 places ranked. Otherwise, we’ll take a closer look at our top 10, starting with the oh-so-awesome, oh-so-thrilling, and downright exciting Newport.
1. Newport
Ah, Newport: home to beaches, sailing, absolutely adorable homes with beautiful architecture, and, of course, a whole lot of excitement.
According to our findings, Newport had not only the most music venues per capita, but also the most active life, arts, and restaurant listings per capita.
Better still, foodies, Newport doesn’t just have tons of blow-the-taste-buds-out-of-your-mouth type restaurants like Thames Street Kitchen, Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant, and Mooring Restaurant.
It also tied for first for its lack of fast food joints per capita. So, if you want a burger, looks like you’re stuck going to Mission.
2. Chepachet
The small village of Chepachet may not exactly have the number of young people that Newport, or say, Providence does, but what it lacked in a young crowd it certainly made up for in its high number of nightlife options, arts, and lack of fast food per capita.
After all, you’d be hard pressed to find just one bar in most places with populations of under 2,000 people, but in Chepachet, you’ve got options. And if the nightlife isn’t your thing, there’s always Stone Mill Antiques.
3. Westerly
This little beach town may be best known as a hot spot for summer, but as we quickly found out, it’s pretty exciting year-round.
Along with several other places, it tied as No. 1 for its non-fast food restaurants. (Of course, anyone who’s ever eaten at Two Little Fish, The Cooked Goose, or 84 on Canal knows it should’ve been the only No. 1!)
It also ranked well for a high number of active life options, plus the fourth most nightlife and music venues per capita.
4. Harrisville
Harrisville may be best known for its beautiful historic architecture, but it also has sights to behold for those who love art, and, of course, food.
Along with several other places in our top 10, Harrisville tied for first place in both its number of restaurants per capita and for its lack of fast food. This town seems to be especially blessed when it comes to pizza. There’s Nikos Pizza House, Elite Pizza II, Serio’s Pizzerama… the only problem will be choosing just one!
5. Woonsocket
Patriots Diner, J’s Deli, Koto Steakhouse… clearly, Woonsocket is yet another Rhode Island city made for foodies.
Plus, considering it was the fourth most densely-populated place in the state, after meal walks are bound to be a lot more exciting.
If your walk happens to take you downtown, be sure to check out any number of the music venues or bars dotting the streets, some of the most per capita in the state.
6. Providence
This one might seem like a no-brainer. After all, Providence is the largest city in the state, it’s the capital, it’s very densely-populated, and it’s home to a handful of colleges and universities.
How could this city not make our list? In fact, why wasn’t it ranked higher?
That was because we ranked its excitement per capita. But even so, out of all of the places in the state, Providence had the second youngest population, with 36.49 percent of residents being between 18 and 34, it had the second most music venues, and the third most arts and nightlife per capita.
Oh, and it’s home to Pastiche, which is really reason enough to live here.
7. Central Falls
Seriously, Rhode Island, you simply have to stop it with all of these food paradises, because how are we supposed to know where to begin?
Dotted with places like Taqueria Lupita, Budare Grille, and Village Pizza, this was yet another city in our top 10 to tie for first place in both food categories: its restaurants per capita and lack of fast food.
Not only that, but with over 16,000 people per square mile, Central Falls was easily the most densely populated place in the state.
To put that into perspective, our previous city, Providence, had just 9,676 people per square mile, which is still quite a lot, especially compared to the next place on our list.
8. Tiverton
This Newport County town certainly isn’t going to win any awards for population density, or a young population (it ranked No. 23 here), but hey, it wouldn’t be in our top 10 if there wasn’t something going on here.
As it turns out, there were a whole lot of somethings. For example, Tiverton had the second most active life options out of anywhere in the state—things like gyms, sporting goods stores, outdoor activities, etc.
It also had some pretty good nightlife options, with the eighth most per capita in the state.
9. Pascoag
Don’t let this little village’s quaint buildings and family-friendly feeling fool you—it may seem like a quiet little community, but it is still plenty exciting. In fact, it ranked ninth for its arts and 10th for nightlife per capita.
Where it really shined, like so many others in Rhode Island, was for its cuisine. It tied for first place with a handful of others for its number of restaurants and its lack of fast food places per capita.
Don’t know where to start? Head to George’s Pizza’n Pub. But don’t be surprised if you don’t want to go anywhere else after you’ve had an icebox or two and an order of buffalo calamari.
10. Hope Valley
There may not be a whole lot of youngins (just 16.87 percent of residents were between 18 and 34) here, but that certainly doesn’t stop the town from being fit. In fact, it ranked fourth overall for its active life options per capita.
Of course, you’d kind of have to stay active here, what with places like West’s Bakery lining the streets (it tied for first place for its restaurants and lack of fast food). But a few laps around the block for a couple of Bismarks? Totally worth it.
Bigger Doesn’t Mean Better
When you think about some of the best things in life—a beautiful jewel, a delicious piece of chocolate, Tyrion from “
Game of Thrones”—they all have something in common: they’re tiny, and yet they are packed with so much awesome. That’s how Rhode Island is, and specifically, the 10 places we talked about above.
If you’re ready for a bit more excitement in your life, first of all, check out the table below to see where your Rhode Island hometown ranked. After that you might want to move to Newport or one of our other top 10. We’ll help you out—we’ll even make it exciting.
