According to a new study, Plano was named the fourth-best city in America to raise a family.
Personal finance website WalletHub recently conducted its study of the best and worst places in the country to raise a family by analyzing and comparing over 180 U.S. cities based on five key categories related to the topic: Affordability, Education and Child Care, Family Fun, Health and Safety and Socio-economics.
Plano placed second overall in the Socio-economics category, ranking highly in metrics such as the percentage of two-parent families (fourth place), separation and divorce rates (seventh-lowest), as well as the share of families living in poverty (eighth-lowest).
The North Texas city also ranked in the top-five in Health and Safety, scoring well in metrics like violent-crime rate per capita — with which Plano had the 11th-lowest rate.
In the other major categories, Plano placed eighth in Affordability, 23rd in Education and Child Care and 81st in Family Fun.
According to the study, the top three U.S. cities to raise a family — just narrowly beating out Plano — was the top-ranked Fremont, California; Overland Park, Kansas (second place); and Irvine, California (third).
Ranking at the bottom of the list among the three worst places to have a family was Cleveland, Ohio (last place); Memphis, Tennessee (second last); and Detroit, Michigan (third last).
Other notable North Texas cities to make an appearance on the list include Irving (85th place), Fort Worth (90th), Arlington (97th), Garland (98th) and Dallas (138th).
According to Rob Weisskirch, a professor of human development at California State University (and featured expert in the WalletHub study), the most significant areas that city officials should focus on if they want to make their cities more attractive for young families include creating safe spaces and maintaining public places.
"#1 is safety. Parents have to feel like their city is a safe place to be out and a safe place to have their children interact with others," said Weisskirch. "#2 is the maintenance of public spaces for families. Parks and playgrounds are the foundation of kids' place spaces and locale for parents to interact. When parks and playgrounds are run-down, young families do not see cities as attractive."
In order to complete its study, WalletHub gathered and analyzed data from several sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, TripAdvisor, Walk Score, among others.
To view the full study, head over to the WalletHub website.
