Best Place to Raise a Family? (apartment, renting, condo)

[Courttpaige]

I'm looking for opinions on where you think the best place to raise a family is!? I'm personally more interested in raising a family in a small town and in the South...but again I'd really like to hear your Opinions. Thanks!

[jd433]

Originally Posted by Courttpaige

I'm looking for opinions on where you think the best place to raise a family is!? I'm personally more interested in raising a family in a small town and in the South...but again I'd really like to hear your Opinions. Thanks!

Texas is a great place to raise a family

[thejoe]

Lot of places are!

[uptown_urbanist]

Can you be more specific? What do you think makes a good place to raise a family? Beyond the very basics (in an ideal world we all want safe neighborhoods and good schools) there are going to be some very, very different opinions about what makes a place good for families, even if you do limit it to just small town and southern.

[Thomas R.]

It would help to know what criteria you desire. There are varied lists, but many of them are more about larger towns and cities.

America's Best Places To Raise A Family - Forbes.com

Not sure it lists anything in the South.

The 100 best places to raise a family - TODAY 101

Columbus, Georgia and Virginia Beach, Virginia are in this lists top 5. I don't think either is small.

ProgressiveFarmer.com | Best Places To Live in Rural America 2009

Their list is intended as more rural. In the South their top ten includes: Fayette County, Texas; Oconee County, Georgia; Obion County, Tennessee; and Madison County, Virginia. Of towns in those counties Watkinsville, Georgia looks about the best educated and Kenton, Tennessee the lowest in crime. Watkinsville looks like it might be a suburb of Athens though. Madison County, Virginia looks to be the most rural of these counties.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Watkinsville-Georgia.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/Kenton-Tennessee.html
http://www.city-data.com/county/Madison_County-VA.html

Brentwood, Tennessee seems to have a high rate of families and a low rate of crime. It's clearly a Nashville suburb though.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Brentwood-Tennessee.html

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Courttpaige

I'm looking for opinions on where you think the best place to raise a family is!? I'm personally more interested in raising a family in a small town and in the South...but again I'd really like to hear your Opinions. Thanks!

As the others have said, you need to provide more details on what exactly you're looking for. "Small town and in the South" is pretty vague.

If it were me, I'd be looking for a small town that's not too far from a big city (1-1.5 hours), that has good schools, cultural amenities, good restaurants, shopping, historical neighborhoods, and is in an area that has beautiful countryside and four distinct seasons.

So, with that in mind, here's my list of where you should look:

Cookeville, Tennessee
Oxford, Mississippi
Rome, Georgia
Salisbury, North Carolina

[ATX Homeboy]

Best place to raise a family is in a house, condo, or apartment; not in a car.

[LovinDecatur]

I recommend Fairhope, AL (25 miles from Mobile). Great town and IMO a great place to raise a family.

www.cofairhope.com

[rnc2mbfl]

Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Holly Springs and Wake Forest North Carolina. All are towns boarding Raleigh in Wake County. Cary (Which still calls itself a town at 130,000 people) is often cited as a wonderful place to raise a family.

[Maabus1999]

Someone already posted some "best places" to raise a family, so I will throw out a dose of bad news with the "worst"

10 Worst Cities to Raise a Family

This has the state rankings for childen's overall well being: Everychildmatters.org (http://www.everychildmatters.org/homelandinsecurity/geomatters.pdf - broken link)

IF you go to the bottom, they have an overall chart with scores for each state. From what I can tell, Virginia is the best state in the south, followed by North Carolina and Missouri (which are quiet distant). On the flips side, basically if a state touches the Gulf of Mexico, it is horrible for kids (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas). Also throw South Carolina in there too.