With wedding season over and many young families seeking to put down roots in places of opportunity, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2019’s Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family as well as accompanying videos.
To determine the most family-friendly places in America, WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 47 key metrics. The data set ranges from housing affordability to school-system quality to share of families with young kids.
| Best Cities for Families | Worst Cities for Families | |||
| 1 | Overland Park, KS | 173 | Augusta, GA | |
| 2 | Fremont, CA | 174 | Baltimore, MD | |
| 3 | Irvine, CA | 175 | Hialeah, FL | |
| 4 | Plano, TX | 176 | San Bernardino, CA | |
| 5 | South Burlington, VT | 177 | Wilmington, DE | |
| 6 | Bismarck, ND | 178 | Shreveport, LA | |
| 7 | Gilbert, AZ | 179 | Memphis, TN | |
| 8 | Fargo, ND | 180 | Cleveland, OH | |
| 9 | Scottsdale, AZ | 181 | Newark, NJ | |
| 10 | Boise, ID | 182 | Detroit, MI | |
Best vs. Worst
- New York has the most playgrounds (per square root of the population), 0.6607, which is 18.9 times more than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the fewest at 0.0349.
- Irvine, California, has the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), 0.61, which is 34.1 times fewer than in St. Louis, the city with the most at 20.82.
- Scottsdale, Arizona, has the highest median family annual income (adjusted for cost of living), $109,565, which is 3.5 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at $30,889.
- Overland Park, Kansas, has the lowest share of families receiving food stamps, 3.09 percent, which is 15.2 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 46.91 percent.
- South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest share of families living in poverty, 2.50 percent, which is 13.1 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 32.70 percent.
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/