Find out which cities in America are the best—and the worst—for you and your brood.
Television executives seized the idea long ago: American families value where they plant their roots. The Cosbys had Brooklyn. The Cunninghams, Milwaukee. The Simpsons, Springfield.
But fathers face reality when they're not in prime time. They want to raise their children somewhere safe, where they can attend good schools with favorable student-teacher ratios, above-average test scores, and respectable budgets. Plenty of museums, parks, and pediatricians also contribute to a good quality of life, whereas multihour commutes, expensive houses, and divorcing friends and neighbors do not.
Best Life editors used these categories and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, FBI, American Association of Museums, National Center for Health Statistics, and American Bar Association to evaluate 257 cities. Here are the best—and worst—places to raise a family.
1 Honolulu, Hawaii (Schools spend almost $9,000 per pupil, unemployment ranks less than half the national average, and you can play on the island of O'ahu's 125 beaches.)
2 Virginia Beach, Virginia
3 Billings, Montana
4 Columbus, Georgia
5 San Diego, California
6 Des Moines, Iowa
7 Minneapolis, Minnesota
8 Madison, Wisconsin (Madison has a high number of pediatricians per capita.)
9 Colorado Springs, Colorado
10 Santa Rosa, California
11 Wichita, Kansas
12 Los Angeles, California
13 Corona, California
14 Austin, Texas
15 Stamford, Connecticut
16 Omaha, Nebraska
17 Naperville, Illinois
18 Fort Wayne, Indiana
19 Springfield, Illinois
20 Boise, Idaho
21 Manchester, New Hampshire
22 South Bay Area, California
23 New York, New York
24 Fontana, California
25 Louisville, Kentucky
26 Plano, Texas
27 Oceanside, California
28 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
29 Sacramento, California
30 Ann Arbor, Michigan
31 Reno, Nevada
32 Las Vegas, Nevada
33 Lincoln, Nebraska
34 San Bernardino, California
35 Grand Rapids, Michigan
36 Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (Median value of a home: $202,733)
37 Kansas City, Kansas
38 Fremont, California
39 Buffalo, New York
40 Berkeley, California
41 Cambridge, Massachusetts
42 Kansas City, Missouri
43 Waterbury, Connecticut
44 Syracuse, New York
45 Phoenix, Arizona
46 Albuquerque, New Mexico
47 Akron, Ohio
48 Boston, Massachusetts
49 Escondido, California
50 Fairfield, California
51 Antioch, California
52 Elgin, Illinois
53 Rochester, New York
54 Seattle, Washington (Residents spend $266 per person annually to maintain the city's parks.)
55 Tucson, Arizona
56 Santa Clarita, California
57 Denver, Colorado
58 Indianapolis, Indiana
59 Glendale, Arizona
60 Chicago, Illinois
61 Atlanta, Georgia
62 San Antonio, Texas
63 Mobile, Alabama
64 Concord, California
65 Denton, Texas
66 Coral Springs, Florida
67 San Francisco, California
68 Cedar Rapids, Iowa
69 El Paso, Texas (Classrooms average fewer than 16 students for every teacher.)
70 San Buenaventura, California
71 Worcester, Massachusetts
72 Baltimore, Maryland
73 Richmond, California
74 Lowell, Massachusetts
75 Portland, Oregon
76 Jacksonville, Florida
77 Fort Collins, Colorado
78 Orlando, Florida
79 Modesto, California
80 Montgomery, Alabama
81 Tampa, Florida
82 Salinas, California
83 Newport News, Virginia
84 Oakland, California
85 Augusta, Georgia
86 Fort Worth, Texas
87 Washington, D.C.
88 Tulsa, Oklahoma (Residents spend just 17 minutes commuting to work.)
89 Bellevue, Washington
90 Cincinnati, Ohio
91 McKinney, Texas
92 St. Louis, Missouri
93 Hayward, California
94 Midland, Texas
95 Sterling Heights, Michigan
96 Greensboro, North Carolina
97 Arlington, Texas
98 Alexandria, Virginia
99 Winston-Salem, North Carolina
100 Lexington, Kentucky
- Re: The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family -- Where are you living now?posted on 05/21/2008
The 10 Worst Places to Raise a Family (from best to worst)
Springfield, Missouri
Dayton, Ohio
Corpus Christi, Texas
Flint, Michigan (Country's highest violent-crime rate)
Columbia, South Carolina
Waco, Texas
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Beaumont, Texas (Long-standing air-quality challenges)
Clarksville, Tennessee (Low educational spending: $6,729 per student)
- Re: The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family -- Where are you living now?posted on 05/21/2008
I guess most of us live between heaven and hell. - posted on 05/21/2008
A little note to add to the list: The list makes sense for Average Joe. Most cafers, actually most Chinese with higher education in America are not Average American.
Overall the average American, age 25 or older, made roughly $32,000 per year,does not have a college degree, has been, is, or will be married as well as divorced at least once during his or her lifetime, lives in his or her own home in a suburban setting and holds a white collar office job. In terms of social class, the average American may be described as either the lower middle or working class.
Data comparison on educational/school spending per pupil:
best $9,000 per pupil (Honolulu)
worst $6,729 per student (Clarksville)
Slim gap between heaven and hell.
Two counties just north of New York, New York:
highest -- $29,912 per pupil
median -- $21916 per pupil
lowest -- $15,174 per pupil
Many of us must be living beyond heaven and hell.:)
July wrote:.......
. Here are the best—and worst—places to raise a family.
1 Honolulu, Hawaii (Schools spend almost $9,000 per pupil, unemployment ranks less than half the national average, and you can play on the island of O'ahu's 125 beaches.)
Clarksville, Tennessee (Low educational spending: $6,729 per student) - Re: The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family -- Where are you living now?posted on 05/21/2008
Another BS compilation of useless data....
"school districts with lower-scoring students are more likely to spend more dollars per student than districts with higher-scoring students", according to an independent study. Plus, what if the grade school teacher in NY city earns double the salary than those in Clarksville? - Re: The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family -- Where are you living now?posted on 05/21/2008
老瓦 wrote:
Another BS compilation of useless data....
Plus, what if the grade school teacher in NY city earns double the salary than those in Clarksville?
I guess it makes NYC a better place for teachers to raise a family than Clarksville.
Slices and dices of data give us views from different angles of the whole picture. - posted on 05/21/2008
rzp wrote:
老瓦 wrote:I guess it makes NYC a better place to be teacher to raise a family than Clarksville. Slices and dices of data give us views from different angles of the whole picture.
Another BS compilation of useless data....
Plus, what if the grade school teacher in NY city earns double the salary than those in Clarksville?
nah, you're missing my point here. What I was implying is the much higher cost of living in NYC.......remember once I heard in radio that many NYC school boards offer the newly minted graduate with 50K+ salary plus signing bonus to teach in grade school, yet still have way more opennings than actual applicants. - posted on 05/21/2008
That must be in one of those inner city districts, the cost of living is not high, but the condition of living keeps lots of people away. Plus, there are better offer from other districts for them to choose from in NYC area.
The inner city district education problem is a common problem for all big cities in this country. Two big groups of candidates talked about it in one of the early presidential debates. There were some seriouly thinking there. Now the presidential race has long turned into wicked way.:(
老瓦 wrote:
rzp wrote:nah, you're missing my point here. What I was implying is the much higher cost of living in NYC.......remember once I heard in radio that many NYC school boards offer the newly minted graduate with 50K+ salary plus signing bonus to teach in grade school, yet still have way more opennings than actual applicants.
老瓦 wrote:I guess it makes NYC a better place to be teacher to raise a family than Clarksville. Slices and dices of data give us views from different angles of the whole picture.
Another BS compilation of useless data....
Plus, what if the grade school teacher in NY city earns double the salary than those in Clarksville? - posted on 05/23/2008
I remembered the list has Waterbury, which led to doubt the value of the list. Although I know a lot about Waterbury and it's a nice town, I doubt anyone who really knows about the town wants to live there.
In any event, I finally found a photo I took in Waterbury.
July wrote:
Find out which cities in America are the best—and the worst—for you and your brood.
43 Waterbury, Connecticut
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation