The 15 Best (and Worst) U.S. Cities For Families in 2024

Deciding where to start building your family can be one tricky choice. Before you start browsing Zillow, you might want to take a look at the most family-friendly cities.

WalletHub looked at 180 cities in the United States and ranked them based on 45 distinct factors including the number of playgrounds per capita and average divorce rates. Those 45 factors were then sorted into five categories: family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability, and socio-economics. A city’s scores in each category were added up, averaged out, and compared, leading to the results below.  

1. The 15 Best U.S. Cities For Families
2. The 15 Worst U.S. Cities For Families

The 15 Best U.S. Cities For Families

The frontrunner—Fremont, California—had one of the highest median family incomes on the list (close to $122,000.) Overland Park, Kansas, which came in second, had one of the highest employment rates in the nation. And Irvine, California, had the lowest crime rate per capita in all of the U.S. 

Now, let’s take a look at the places that rounded out the bottom of the 180 cities WalletHub included in the survey. 

The 15 Worst U.S. Cities For Families

When it comes to the lowest-ranking cities for families, a few particular factors stood out. Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and Memphis, Tennessee all had some of the highest crime rates per capita. Other cities, like Birmingham, Alabama contained a very low percentage of families with young children. 

In the end, no single survey knows your family and its needs better than you do. The perfect place to put down roots with your family might be different from someone else’s, and chances are it isn’t even on either of these lists.  

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