10 Best Places to Raise a Family

[gillumhouse]

They gave Vermont a pass because they have no city 45,000 or more. What a joke - WV has 2 cities that meet that population requirement and so what is the surprise about the outcome. Several of our 10 largest cities do not have even 20,000 population. Thought some might find this interesting.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/11/1117_best_places_to_raise_kids/1.htm
[h2]Affordable, safe, and family-friendly[/h2]It's time for BusinessWeek's annual ranking of the best places to raise your kids.
As we did last year, we teamed up with OnBoard Informatics, a New York-based provider of real estate analysis, to select one town and two runners-up for each of the 50 states. The selections were limited to towns that have at least 45,000 residents and a median income of between $40,000 and $125,000. Vermont was given a pass on the population restrictions because none of its cities would otherwise have made the cut.
We used the same criteria to rank the towns, but we shifted the weights slightly to come up with what we consider better results. The data we used included school performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crime rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theaters, other amenities, and diversity.
Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me.

 

[Morticia]

Why are all the photos 'photoshopped?' That makes it look like none of the places had any 'photo worthy' residents!

 

[muirford]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me..

I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me.

Haha! Freudian? May be a little too subjective for most rating scales.

 

[gillumhouse]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me..

Affordability just may have something to do with the job market. It would be nice if they would put some weight on quality of life. Quite often the small town/city near a larger city does not have the size but does have affordability, work nearby, reacreation, and culture but above all safety.
My City is small (pop 2300) but we have everything a large city has and we so it on less $$$. We have a City Manager who works tirelessly to make this a good city because her grandchildren are here (and she has lived here all her life). We have a police force (almost no crime), a City Park plus an Activities Park, rail-trail, community band, Library, City Council, Development Authority, Park Board, Sanitary Board, sewer plant and water plant, Public Works Dept, zoning, building codes, Volunteer Fire Dept (most FDs in WV are VFD), museum, churches, restaurants, medical facilities, and shopping. We even have bus service! 2 banks, 2 funeral homes, grocery, lumber yard/hardware store, 2 pharmacies, gas stations and convenience stores. In 2010 we will be 6 miles from one hospital and 10 miles from another. Houses are very affordable and unemployment in this area is low. We are near 3 universities, several colleges, have music and sports programs for the kids, and we are in what is called the "high tech corridor". And the airport is 11 miles away. THIS is a good place to raise kids.
We are a bit over 6 miles from an Interstate

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me..

I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me.

Haha! Freudian? May be a little too subjective for most rating scales.
.

There you go. Freud slips in there whenever we least expect it!

 

[Morticia]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me..

Affordability just may have something to do with the job market. It would be nice if they would put some weight on quality of life. Quite often the small town/city near a larger city does not have the size but does have affordability, work nearby, reacreation, and culture but above all safety.
My City is small (pop 2300) but we have everything a large city has and we so it on less $$$. We have a City Manager who works tirelessly to make this a good city because her grandchildren are here (and she has lived here all her life). We have a police force (almost no crime), a City Park plus an Activities Park, rail-trail, community band, Library, City Council, Development Authority, Park Board, Sanitary Board, sewer plant and water plant, Public Works Dept, zoning, building codes, Volunteer Fire Dept (most FDs in WV are VFD), museum, churches, restaurants, medical facilities, and shopping. We even have bus service! 2 banks, 2 funeral homes, grocery, lumber yard/hardware store, 2 pharmacies, gas stations and convenience stores. In 2010 we will be 6 miles from one hospital and 10 miles from another. Houses are very affordable and unemployment in this area is low. We are near 3 universities, several colleges, have music and sports programs for the kids, and we are in what is called the "high tech corridor". And the airport is 11 miles away. THIS is a good place to raise kids.
We are a bit over 6 miles from an Interstate
.

Stop telling everyone or they'll all move in with their problems...

 

[gillumhouse]

Affordability, safety*, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.

Love that affordability is tops on the list of considerations. That's great. But sometimes the reason a place is affordable is there just aren't as many people who want to live there as a place that costs a bit more. Sometimes there are some hidden benefits in those more expensive locales.
I'd love to see overal quality of love as the first consideration. But that's just me..

Affordability just may have something to do with the job market. It would be nice if they would put some weight on quality of life. Quite often the small town/city near a larger city does not have the size but does have affordability, work nearby, reacreation, and culture but above all safety.
My City is small (pop 2300) but we have everything a large city has and we so it on less $$$. We have a City Manager who works tirelessly to make this a good city because her grandchildren are here (and she has lived here all her life). We have a police force (almost no crime), a City Park plus an Activities Park, rail-trail, community band, Library, City Council, Development Authority, Park Board, Sanitary Board, sewer plant and water plant, Public Works Dept, zoning, building codes, Volunteer Fire Dept (most FDs in WV are VFD), museum, churches, restaurants, medical facilities, and shopping. We even have bus service! 2 banks, 2 funeral homes, grocery, lumber yard/hardware store, 2 pharmacies, gas stations and convenience stores. In 2010 we will be 6 miles from one hospital and 10 miles from another. Houses are very affordable and unemployment in this area is low. We are near 3 universities, several colleges, have music and sports programs for the kids, and we are in what is called the "high tech corridor". And the airport is 11 miles away. THIS is a good place to raise kids.
We are a bit over 6 miles from an Interstate
.

Stop telling everyone or they'll all move in with their problems...

.

We need more people to help the tax base and use City Services. And even getting the highest tax rate they can charge me AND personal property taxes, my tax bill for the year has yet to hit $1000. Eat your hearts out! I told you this was a great place to live!