Tinley Park, Il., tops BusinessWeek’s 2010 Best Places to Raise Your Kids List. Arcadia, Calif., San Marcos, Texas and Beaverton, Ore., also make the list.
Each year BusinessWeek teams up with OnBoard Informatics, a New York-based provider of real estate analysis, to choose a winner and two runners-up in each of the 50 states. Selections were limited to towns with at least 45,000 residents and median income between $40,000 and $125,000.
Data collected on each city to determine ranking included: school performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crime rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theatres, other amenities and diversity.
Affordability, safety and school test scores were given the greatest weight. Relative safety levels for each city were determined by measuring the “total crime risk,” a combination of the risks of rape, murder, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and vehicle theft.
The crime scores were determined by geographic and demographic analysis of crime in that city over the past seven years. School performance was based upon state reading and math scores.
Based upon the above criteria, Tinley Park, Ill., a Chicago suburb, was named as the best place to raise your kid overall. Last year, the overall winner was also in Illinois--Mount Prospect. Some towns were repeat winners, including Warner Robins, a military town in Georgia, and Rock Hill, S.C., a suburb of Charlotte. But, the bulk of the best places to live and raise a family list are new this year.
For a complete list of the best city to raise kids in each state, see “Top Places to Raise a Family in the U.S.”
Written by Sharalyn Hartwell
HULIQ.com
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
