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1. Irvine CA
2. San Jose CA
3. Ann Arbor MI
4. Overland Park KS
5. Boulder CO
6. Plano TX
7. San Diego CA
8. Madison WI
9. Columbia MD
10. Naperville IL
Methodology
In determining our Best Cities for Families rankings, we looked at a variety of factors in a weighted points system. Our system factored in criteria including the quality of the public school systems, childcare affordability in the state, quality of life and cities with the most families.
I mean...sure. This top 10 doesn't have any cities terribly out of place in that sense. I find these types of city rankings tend to be problematic due to the difficulties of comparing small suburbs across varying metro areas. Statistical comparisons between suburbs in one metro area make sense, as do comparisons between overall metro areas.
Also, I recently learned that The Irvine Co (which basically built up Irvine) is actually based in Newport Beach lol.
1. Irvine CA
2. San Jose CA
3. Ann Arbor MI
4. Overland Park KS
5. Boulder CO
6. Plano TX
7. San Diego CA
8. Madison WI
9. Columbia MD
10. Naperville IL
Let the comments begin lol
Been to 7 of 10, live 15 minutes now from Plano. Columbia Naperville and Overland Park are really just bedroom communities compared to the others. Ann Arbor and Boulder, college towns. The others are major employment centers and thus, I feel are at a different level. Of those. Plano is the most affordable and San Diego the most desirable.
--Don't know how it weights housing costs in the ranking. But it seems like they don't consider it much at all. Some of these places, like San Jose, are uber-expensive for most families. Moreover, college towns, like Ann Arbor or Irvine, are often among the more expensive places in a state that probably has less costly alternatives.
--Like only three cities in the whole U.S. Northeast are good for families? Puh-leeze. Spare me. Columbia and Arlington are good choices IMO, but Trenton is not. At least historically, its government is corrupt, its public schools sub-par, and employment-wise its a one-trick pony--state government and little else. There are lots of stronger contenders for family-friendly cities in the Northeast than Trenton.
--And only two cities in the South, Plano and Naples? (You can go back and forth about how "South" Maryland is.) I could think of a half-dozen places south of the Mason-Dixon that are great places to raise a family--Charlotte, Houston, Winston-Salem, Norfolk/Newport News, just for starters.
-- The listing also seems to give little to no weight to ethnic/racial diversity. Would a Hispanic or Black or Asian family be equally happy in all of these places? I doubt it. Seems like a list (with a few exceptions) for the generic "all-American" family, i.e. the upper-middle-class white family.
1. Irvine CA
2. San Jose CA
3. Ann Arbor MI
4. Overland Park KS
5. Boulder CO
6. Plano TX
7. San Diego CA
8. Madison WI
9. Columbia MD
10. Naperville IL
Let the comments begin lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by citylove101
I'd pass on this list being very useful
--Don't know how it weights housing costs in the ranking. But it seems like they don't consider it much at all. Some of these places, like San Jose, are uber-expensive for most families. Moreover, college towns, like Ann Arbor or Irvine, are often among the more expensive places in a state that probably has less costly alternatives.
--Like only three cities in the whole U.S. Northeast are good for families? Puh-leeze. Spare me. Columbia and Arlington are good choices IMO, but Trenton is not. At least historically, its government is corrupt, its public schools sub-par, and employment-wise its a one-trick pony--state government and little else. There are lots of stronger contenders for family-friendly cities in the Northeast than Trenton.
--And only two cities in the South, Plano and Naples? (You can go back and forth about how "South" Maryland is.) I could think of a half-dozen places south of the Mason-Dixon that are great places to raise a family--Charlotte, Houston, Winston-Salem, Norfolk/Newport News, just for starters.
-- The listing also seems to give little to no weight to ethnic/racial diversity. Would a Hispanic or Black or Asian family be equally happy in all of these places? I doubt it. Seems like a list (with a few exceptions) for the generic "all-American" family, i.e. the upper-middle-class white family.
This list is a hard pass.
I agree CityLove.
Missing from the report name is the adjective "Bougie". I hate the term but it can't be much closer with the options given. More accurate yet less precious in my opinion would be a list like this which is demographically similar and arguably more diverse.
1.Mercer Island, WA
2.Reston, VA
3.Alpharetta, GA
4.Evanston, IL
5.Fort Collins, CO
6.The Woodlands, TX
7.Sacramento, CA
8.Palm Harbor, FL
9.West Hartford, CT
10.Murfreesboro, TN
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