Everyone wants the best things in life for their children and family, like a suitable household to grow up in, a proper school system to enroll the kids into, a safe town with a low crime rate, etc. Additionally, everyone wants their children to thrive in a town bustling with culture, fun things to do, and people with similar goals and mindsets.
However, there are so, so many conflicting reports about what the very best and safest cities to raise a family are. It’s difficult to find accurate and good information on cities that aren’t just straight up lists of names or are fraught with poorly researched, shallow data. As someone who has lived in one of the 10 best cities spoken about below, I can tell you that growing up in a town that is very safe, low in crime, bursting with unique culture, well-educated, and offering myriads of unique intangibles that make it completely special was a huge benefit while growing up.
After many hours of research, speaking to some people who have lived in these cities, and thinking about the best factors that go into a city primed for raising a family, I am here to present to you, without any further ado, the ten unequivocally best cities in America to raise a healthy, happy, educated, and fantastic family.
(Interested in reading about other great American cities? Check out the new website from this article’s author www.americaunraveled.com).
10. Boulder, Colorado
Mountains of Boulder: Photo by Aidan M. Grey Via Flickr Creative Commons
Who else wouldn’t want to wake up to beautiful Colorado mountains, fresh air, and an intellectual economy driven by one of the nation’s greatest universities, the University of Colorado, Boulder. Colorado is frequently cited as one of the top 10 states in the country for excellence in school systems – Boulder’s itself is among the very finest. Additionally, the town’s crime rate is relatively low for a large city, certainly much, much lower than the US average. From the town’s Pearl Street Overpass to the awe-inspiring scenic area of the Flatirons to the endless bike trails and exciting urban culture, Boulder is not only one of the best places to live in, but also one of the best to raise culturally diverse, intellectual children. Recently, Men’s Journal ranked Boulder, CO as the best place in America to live. We understand why.
9. Burlington, Vermont
Church Street in Burlington: Photo by jay8085 Via Flickr Creative Commons
The largest city in the beautiful state of Vermont, Burlington’s economy is driven by the power of education and health, with the University of Vermont employing several thousands of faculty, staff, and students. Additionally, the Fletcher Allen hospital, named a top 25 “green” hospital by the health advocacy organization Practice Greenhealth, employs several thousand doctors, nurses, and staff members as well. The unemployment rate, according to Kiplinger.com, is an astoundingly low 3.5%, marking this city one of the best places for moms and dads to find jobs to support their children. The town is exceptionally noted for being eco-friendly, with the mayor aiming to make all energy used in the town as renewable energy. Indeed, many of the top solar power companies in the entire world are based in Burlington.
Additionally, the town is known for having a quirky and fun sense of cultural pride, with the city hosting very popular dragon boat races that sometimes have well over 2,000 participants. The race takes place in Lake Champlain, and proceeds go to charity. Also, fun fact: Ben & Jerry’s started in Burlington in 1978.
8. Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque, IA: Photo by SD Dirk Via Flickr Creative Commons
With an unemployment rate of less than 5%, Dubuque led the entire midwest in economy and job growth in 2005 and was subsequently ranked in the top 25 fastest growing economies in North America. The city has truly blossomed in recent years, with education, health, finance, and publishing all becoming legitimately wealthy sectors of the city.
Outside of the positive economic climate, there are many other tremendous benefits to raising a family in Dubuque. A single-family home costs less than $150,000 on average, with many premium four-bedroom homes in their historic district costing less than $300,000 total. If you are deeply religious and spiritual, you will enjoy Dubuque’s very Christian population, a population that is given the option to attend any of the 11 active Christian churches in the entire city.
The school system is also fantastic, with sixteen schools (ten high schools, three middle schools, three elementary schools) enrolling over 10,000 students, ensuring a very favorable student size per building. A rising national attraction, Dubuque has well over 1,000,000 tourists that come to check out the city per year.
7. Friendswood, Texas
Quaker’s Landing In Friendswood, TX: Photo by FredMikeRudy Via Flickr Creative Commons
Frequently cited as one of the very best cities in the nation to raise a family, Friendswood was recently cited by the website Neighborhood Scout as the 32nd safest city in all of America. In addition to being supremely safe, the average income per family is close to $130,000, among the highest for small towns in all of Texas. With a population of less than 40,000 residents, the town size is very desirable for those who are not looking for the urban sprawl of a major city, but rather, the intimacy and communal friendship of a town that comes packed with a heaping spoonful of heart and positive pride. Additionally, the school system is rated “exemplary” by the state of Texas.
Located near greater Houston, families have easy driving access to one of the country’s most culturally diverse cities in America, a city thats sports several professional sports teams, a strongly ethnic, diverse international community, and the presence of several of the world’s finest universities, including the University of Houston as well as Rice University.
I moved to Friendswood, Texas from West Hartford, Connecticut this year, and it is clear that those who made this list have never visited Friendswood. Unfortunately, my family fell under the spell of propaganda such as this, and it has been the worst mistake of our lives. Please know that often lists such as these are compiled based on submissions sent in by the towns themselves, and they are based mainly on statistics which we all know can be skewed toward the most favorable representation of an area. Kind of like a beauty contestant with a really aggressive agent sending in her stats to every pageant she can find. Friendswood, much like other parts of Texas, has a lot of bravado about nothing. The sentence about the “heaping spoonful of positive pride” is the truest characterization in the description. The drive down I-45 from Houston is the ugliest and most depressing drive in America. I cannot wait to move my family out of here. I think most would agree that an area rampant in pawn shops, tattoo parlors, pay-day lenders, self-storage facilities, smoke stores, and “gentlemen’s clubs” is not a great place to raise a family. If ZoomTens examined data such as the number of chain drive thru fast food restaurants per capita, Friendswood would certainly not have made this list. The schools are shockingly resource poor. They may be “Exemplary” for Texas, but they cannot hold a candle to schools in the Northeast. Teachers are not required to have Master’s degrees, so most do not. Phys Ed classes can have 75 students at the elementary level, and 1 librarian is shared among over 1300 students. Just a reality check. There is no real sense of community here, and for the record, it TOTALLY feels like sprawl.
Most people from the Northeast seem to feel that way. The things you described may exist outside of Friendswood but not in the city proper. I suspect you didnt do much to experience true Southern Community and that is a shame. Friendswood has it’s issues but overall it is one of the best places to raise your kids if you want to be truly involved and not let the schools raise them for you.
You are correct that the school district is resource poor because they have no industry to supply a healthy tax base. The reason it remains exemplary and would measure up to any school is the US doesn’t have anything to do with the level of education teachers have. It is because we have very smart kids with parents who take the time to participate in their education system the old fashion way. Sorry you had such a poor experience and best of luck finding the perfect place to live. Come to think of it though, if you do you better not move there or you will ruin it!
Sorry, I am not into Football. What else is there? The tacky 4th of July parade?
Also, zoomtens obviously didn’t take weather into account. Kids can’t play outside for months at a time in Friendswood without risking heatstroke. Yuck.
I did. My brother and I grew up in the 1980s in central texas with around 90 to 100 degree F weather all summer long. And we spent the whole summer in the back yard playing soccer, baseball, cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, etc…Perhaps they don’t make kids today like they used to.
What a negative person
One comment does not make one negative if it is the truth. I live north of Houston in a city people think is the best, The Woodlands. All areas around Houston are expensive and boring unless you have money to pay for activities. I made a big mistake moving here years ago and can’t wait to get out of Texas! The interstate called I 45 is what some call an Indian burial ground, as there are so many drunks on the road and many accidents. Texans pay the highest in car insurance due to so many not being insured here! Yes you can get a big house cheap here, but it is also built cheaply! If you think all things big are the best then move here, you will get a bigger house and bigger electric bills, just to name a few. It really is what matters in life. Materialistic? come on over, plenty of shops to spend dollars in. For being in the bible belt, there are so many rude drivers who lose their religion the roads.
I am moving me and my 7 kids to Texas please tell me what’s best place in Texas to move to I want country not city
Monica is absolutely RIGHT!! My family and I moved to Sugar Land, Texas. But before we settled here in Sugar Land my family and I did check out Friendswood. What a dirty dump with tons of crackerjack houses all slapped up and no trees to seek shade in the heat. I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, and My kids were all born in Wilmington NC and we moved from there. South of Houston is great for boring people, who love to spend all there time shopping in shops cause that is all there really is. Try going to the gulf beaches; garbage is everywhere and petrochemical companys polluting as far and the eye can see. Fort Bend is a down wind county to these pollutants and childhood leukemia is in the red zone. Sweltering Sweaty sticky (heatstroke) mosquito infested summers, if you like your kids to play outside this is absolutely not the place. My kids hate going outside in the summer, and if you are out you better find a pool quick. nations highest property tax. It is sickening, everyone is so proud of no income tax here, yet the property tax is 3 to 4 times the amount of any income tax I have ever had to pay. Oh and the cultural diversity sales pitch is garbage. Its just an idea of hey lets all hold hands and sing , but I have never experienced so much hatred, especially from the american muslim population which is rapidly growing, and whites are white flighting out of sugar land. So move here if you like hell.
If you dont mind me asking why did you move from NC? I live in Arizona and I am looking to move to NC?
The best place is Scandinavia, the most advanced people in the world. US is a Holliwood movie for abnormal folk. I spent 5 years in US and I feel like I am done with it.
Since when is the University of Houston “one of of the world’s best universities”? It is ranked #190 currently by U.S. News and World report. Also, Friendswood is a town that straddles two counties, Harris and Galveston, and it very much is divided by that. It has two school districts, which is really strange as well.
I was raised in Keller Texas and actually lived not far from Friendswoods tx in Houston for about 3 years…as of now…I am back in the dfw area not far from Keller. My childhood memories of growing up in Keller are some of the best memories I have and the city itself has grown and keeps growing but still has the small town family feel to it. Just like any state…of course there is there negative down fall areas but there is no other place I would live than Texas! Maybe its the fact I was born and raised Texan, But just as if I was to moved to another state after living in Texas my whole life, I am sure I would have plenty of complaints and comparison. Keller really is a great place to raise a family and is a great combination of a small town feel with everything you need not to far away! Maybe people shouldn’t be so judgmental before they actually experience a place for itself. “Heat stroke” is defiantly not an exaggeration when it comes to Houston humidity….but if you travel 4 hours north (from Friendswood to Keller area) you will notice 100% change in humidity and climate. I agree with the previous comment…people like that don’t need to be moving to the number 5 greatest places to raise a family because its people like that, that keep the town top of the list!#texasnproud
Friendswood has a very plastic feel to it. Instead of having neighborhoods, most of the “city” is subdivisions with pretentious and ridiculous names like “Forest of Friendswood” and “Eagle Lakes” There are no forests or lakes in Friendswood, and I doubt there are any eagles either.
Monica, you couldn’t be more RIGHT! I’m from Richmond, VA and lived in other places in the eastern part of the country (Mass, Florida, Alabama) … my job caused me to live in Corpus Christi, TX for one year …. what a dump. I spent a little time in Houston area also …. also a dump. The only people that like Texas are people from Texas, and there are only two things its good for: 1. buffer from mexico 2. oil ……. place BA-LOWS
I like the city where I live in Texas and I am not a Texan. I have relatives and friends living in many different cities around Texas: Houston, Austin, West Lake Hills, Dallas, Plano, Cuero, San Antonio, etc… some of them were born in Texas but others like a couple who has almost been living in Dallas for 20 years, they came from San Diego, California and another one also who moved his entire family from New Jersey almost 30 years ago. And all of them agree that this is a good state to live in, taxes are not as high as other states, it offers you good opportunities to start your own business and the schools all around Texas have very good rates, and also lots of Texan cities are in the top 100 safest cities to live in America. Me, particularly, I’ve been living in the DFW area for about a year and a half, first I lived in Dallas city (my husband got a job there and we were renting) then after six months we decided to buy a house so we looked in many areas around the metroplex and at the end we decided to moved to Richardson city (which still belongs to Dallas country) because of the suburban lifestyle but still close to the big city. And of course when we looked at places we always checked the school ratings, it is a useful resource! And about the weather, It is true that the hot weather might affect you at the beginning (specially if you live in the central and north Texas which do not have access to the coast side), but the winter season it is not too cruel as it could be in all of our north neighbors. At the end, you just need to find good spots and activities to spend your time at any city you are. And try to enjoy everything that you can find around you, that helps you to get used to a city. Texas has many good cities, you can not judge a whole state just for one small place, specially not a big state like Texas. You can not judge TEXAS just because you did not like Corpus Christi, or Friendswood or even Houston (which is a big city and has many good things to offer all around), it might be true that some small towns could be boring but it is easy to find another place to move without going to far out of Texas.
Best Country in the World! TEXAS!!!!
I’ve lived in Iowa and unless you are really averse to paying your fair share of taxes, just about anyplace in Minnesota is a better place to raise kids. The education system is far superior, and the parks and recreation, with all the lakes and beautiful pine trees, make any comparison downright laughable. I see no place in Minnesota in your top ten. Two cities from Texas? Really? Indiana and Iowa are your two representatives from the Midwest? It’s obvious you haven’t spent a lot of time in Minnesota or Wisconsin, although I can understand the hate for our neighbor to the east a little bit better as Governor Scotty is in the process of ruining that state.
Minnesota or Wisconsin? You are the only one that mentioned something other than Texas, Texas and Texas! I live in Phoenix Arizona was thinking to move just don’t know where? I went through all these best places to live but everyone is complaining and or unhappy? I am looking for a place that has very little snow not to cold not to hot no any whether disasters hurricanes tornadoes earthquakes etc. Suggestions?
Did you write Texas is the best COUNTRY in the world ? O man , these people are right , the school system in Texas does suck …
Hmm..curious. And that article https://rentberry.com/blog/best-cities-to-raise-kids includes completely different cities. I also like that it has average price for rentals in cities. And the price is one of the factors that affects the decision of tenants, especially with fixed budget.