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 2018’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 46 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 Wilmington, DE
2 Irvine, CA 174 Birmingham, AL
3 Fremont, CA 175 Memphis, TN
4 South Burlington, VT 176 San Bernardino, CA
5 Bismarck, ND 177 Baltimore, MD
6 Plano, TX 178 Hialeah, FL
7 Fargo, ND 179 Cleveland, OH
8 Sioux Falls, SD 180 Miami, FL
9 Huntington Beach, CA 181 Detroit, MI
10 Gilbert, AZ 182 Newark, NJ

Best vs. Worst

  • New York has the most playgrounds (per square root of the population), 0.5737, which is 17.4 times more than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the fewest at 0.0330.
  • Irvine, California, has the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), 0.57, which is 35.9 times fewer than in Detroit, the city with the most at 20.47.
  • Overland Park, Kansas, has the highest median family annual income (adjusted for cost of living), $108,704, which is 3.6 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at $29,962.
  • Irvine, California, has the lowest share of families receiving food stamps, 2.98 percent, which is 16.4 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 48.95 percent.
  • Fremont, California, has the lowest share of families living in poverty, 3.3 percent, which is 10.5 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 34.7 percent.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-families/4435/