Top towns for families with children

Schools important, but other criteria come into play
Inman News
NeighborhoodScout has issued a special report identifying America's 10 best towns for families and children.

The report combines data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the FBI, the U.S. Justice Department and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

Dr. Andrew Schiller, a specialist in American demographics and the creator of the NeighborhoodScout search engine for home buyers, used NeighborhoodScout to analyze government data to identify the communities that have the best overall combination of attributes parents and researchers repeatedly cite as important in defining the best places for families with children.

His work has produced a list of the top choices and best value towns for families in each of America's 10 largest metropolitan areas.

Here are NeighborhoodScout's top choice and best value towns for families with children in America's 10 largest metro areas (by metro area from east to west):

Metro Region               Top Choice              Best Value for the money
Boston                     Sudbury, Mass.          Holden, Mass.
New York                   Manhasset, N.Y.         Andover, N.J.
Philadelphia               Richboro, Pa.           Downingtown, Pa.
Washington, D.C.           Potomac, Md.            Columbia, Md.
Detroit                    Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Troy, Mich.
Chicago                    Lake Forest, Ill.       Wheeling, Ill.
Dallas-Fort Worth          Highland Park, Texas    Richardson, Texas
Houston                    Sugar Land, Texas       Stafford, Texas
San Francisco              Los Altos, Calif.       Suisun City, Calif.
Los Angeles                Moorpark, Calif.        Simi Valley, Calif.

All the towns are within 40 miles of the center city.

"We were looking for those very select communities that have both top-quality public schools and an exceptionally family-friendly environment, not towns that may excel at one or two criteria but are lacking in other ways," Schiller said.

For this research, the criteria used included quality public schools, safety from crime, a high proportion of families with children in the community, many adults with college degrees or even advanced degrees, many families who own their homes, and homes that are predominantly single-family residences, regardless of the setting being urban, suburban, or rural. Median house values were also included to find the family-friendly towns that qualify as best values for the money in each metropolitan area.

"Home ownership is important because research has shown that it helps keep crime lower, and represents an investment in the location by those living there," Schiller said. High educational attainment by adults in the community is a good indicator that the populace places a high degree of importance on education, and is well equipped to make key decisions about the future of the community.

Many families with children in the town signifies that other families have selected the town as a good place to raise their children, and helps to promote a family-friendly environment with good social networks for both children and their parents. "Many parents, regardless of the type of dwelling they live in, state that they prefer a single-family home for raising their children, replete with space to play indoors and out, and so this research included the predominance of single-family homes as one of its measures," Schiller said.

Location Inc. is a Rhode Island-based company specializing in nationwide relocation software, retail site selection and real estate investment advising. Andrew Schiller is the founder of the company, a Ph.D. geographer, and a former research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Atomic Energy Complex.