Best, Worst Cities to Raise Kids

A lot of the best seem to be in California
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2023 2:15 PM CDT
Best US Cities to Raise Kids
The East Bay Hills around Mission Peak are dusted with snow on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in Fremont, Calif.   (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group via AP)

So you want to raise a family, and preferably not in a city with a nuclear waste site. Wallethub examined data from 182 US cities to make the choice a little easier, crunching data in five categories: family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability, and socioeconomics. Cities in California dominated the top 10. Without further ado, the top and bottom 10 cities in the pile, along with their overall rating:

The highest ranked cities:

  1. Fremont, California, 73.71
  2. Overland Park, Kansas, 71.35
  3. Irvine, California, 69.78
  4. Plano, Texas, 68.34
  5. South Burlington, Vermont, 65.84
  6. San Diego, California, 64.97
  7. San Jose, California, 64.90
  8. Scottsdale, Arizona, 64.55
  9. Gilbert, Arizona, 64.53
  10. San Francisco, California, 64.45

The lowest ranked cities:

  1. Wilmington, Delaware, 41.29
  2. Hialeah, Florida, 41.02
  3. Baltimore, Maryland, 40.86
  4. Shreveport, Louisiana, 40.61
  5. San Bernardino, California, 39.96
  6. Newark, New Jersey, 38.12
  7. Birmingham, Alabama, 37.22
  8. Detroit, Michigan, 36.32
  9. Memphis, Tennessee, 34.80
  10. Cleveland, Ohio, 34.65
See the full rankings. (Or check out other lists.)

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