checking all the boxes
Austin surprisingly excels in new list of best places to raise a family
Fun-loving Austin is emerging as one of the best cities to raise a family in the nation, according to the latest annual "Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family" report from WalletHub.
The 2024 edition of the study ranked Austin No. 19 out of 182 of the most populous U.S. cities. Austin previously ranked No. 18 in the 2022 report.
The report ranks 182 U.S. cities across five main categories: Family fun, health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, and socioeconomics.
Austin (surprisingly) performed the best in the subcategory for affordability, ranking No. 9 nationally. The Texas Capital fell behind in its education and childcare rank (No. 32) and socioeconomics rank (No. 40). The city performed the worst in the family fun (No. 77) and health and safety (No. 100) categories.
Austin has received a lot of praise for its easygoing, friendly qualities in 2024. The city recently climbed back into the top 10 best places to live in the country, and its amazing park system was (once again) lauded as the third best in Texas.
In the report, WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said it can be a challenge for potential parents to find the "right" city to live in that checks all the boxes for raising a family. Besides having an affordable cost of living, families have to consider a city's safety, its education system, and opportunities for recreational activities.
"On top of all of these factors, people also often want to raise their children close to their extended family," Happe said. "Therefore, current or prospective parents can benefit from narrowing down their choices to a few of the best cities that are within a reasonable drive of their family."
The top four best cities for raising a family in the U.S. remained the same for the second year in a row: Fremont, California (No. 1); Overland Park, Kansas (No. 2); Irvine, California (No. 3); and Plano, Texas (No. 4). Factors that helped determine Plano's top-five spot in the report include the number of playgrounds per capita, the city's walkability, air quality, school-system quality, cost of living, the city's separation and divorce rate, and much more. Seattle, Washington, rounded out the top five.
Here's how other Texas cities fared in the report:
- No. 63 – Grand Prairie
- No. 72 – Laredo
- No. 77 – Brownsville
- No. 80 – Amarillo
- No. 86 – Fort Worth
- No. 96 – El Paso
- No. 99 – Arlington
- No. 107 – Lubbock
- No. 111 – Garland
- No. 134 – Corpus Christi
- No. 138 – San Antonio
- No. 141 – Dallas
- No. 145 – Houston