City Ranked ‘Best in State to Raise a Family': Michigan’s Top 102
To say that WalletHub ranked Michigan cities for family friendliness is an understatement. They did their homework by looking at our fair cities and ranking them in 4 different categories:
- Family Life & Fun
- Education, Health, and Safety
- Affordability
- Socioeconomics
Before counting down to Michigan's Best City to Raise a Family, let's take a look at how each category factored into WalletHub's ranking.
Ranking Family Life and Fun in Michigan (25 points)
What makes for family fun in Michigan? Playgrounds, attractions, average commute times, and even weather were factors in this category's total score.
Related: Ranking Michigan School Districts Spending vs District Avg Income
This category answers the questions Michigan families face every weekend: "Where are we going, what are we doing, how long will it take to get there, and was the drive worth it?"
Ranking Education, Health, and Safety in Michigan (25 points)
What are the area's graduation rate, school quality, air quality, pediatricians per capita, and how many children are, and aren't, insured? From a safety standpoint, how many violent or property crimes happen in the city?
Ranking Affordability in Michigan (25 points)
When looking at a place to raise a family, affordability plays a huge part in the decision-making process. What are the area costs? How high are the area's general and housing costs?
Ranking Socioecomics in Michigan (25 points)
This category looked at Michigan Cities' separation and divorce rates, households using government food programs, families in poverty, the number of two-parent families, wealth gaps, and foreclosure rates, and factored them all into the score.
These scores were then totaled and divided by 4 to determine which cities in Michigan are the best to raise a family.
Where is Michigan's Best Place to Raise a Family?
Gallery Credit: Scott Clow