If you’ve got 2.5 kids and a dog, there’s a good chance you’re looking for certain things in a neighborhood: good schools, safe streets, affordable homes and plenty of other children for your kin to play with. With those features in mind, Apartment List compiled … well, a list of the top ten cities that fit the aforementioned bill.
Using data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Census and Education Department, the apartment search engine ranked over 500 neighborhoods by safety (35%), housing affordability (30%), education quality (25%) and child-friendliness (which accounts for 10% of a city’s score and represents the percentage of its population under age 18).
After crunching the numbers, 10 cities came out on top.
Read more: The cost of raising a child from birth to age 17
Of course, whether you’re looking for a place to raise kids, a quiet space to call your own or the perfect locale for your modern family, your neighborhood of choice will vary and you’ll have to decide what neighborhood features are most important to you. Still, some general rules for finding an affordable place apply.
For starters, you’ll want to know exactly how much house you can afford. Otherwise, you risk overextending yourself. Second, you’ll want to check your credit, as a good credit score is instrumental when it comes to securing a mortgage and a clean credit report will help you pass muster with potential landlords. (You can visit Credit.com’s mortgage learning center if you’re looking for more information of buying a house.)
Here are the places Apartment List found to be the best cities for families with children.
10 best U.S. cities to raise kids
10. Pearland, Texas
- Safety Score: 79.6
- Affordability Score: 98.9
- Education Score: 99.0
- Child-Friendliness Score: 74.6
- Overall: 89.7
- Grade: A
9. Fishers, Indiana
- Safety Score: 98.5
- Affordability Score: 74.7
- Education Score: 93.8
- Child-Friendliness Score: 99.2
- Overall: 90.3
- Grade: A+
8. O’Fallon, Missouri
- Safety Score: 96.5
- Affordability Score: 98.1
- Education Score: 73.8
- Child-Friendliness Score: 92.7
- Overall: 90.9
- Grade: A+
7. Rochester Hills, Michigan
- Safety Score: 99.3
- Affordability Score: 87.5
- Education Score: 96.0
- Child-Friendliness Score: 70.2
- Overall: 92.0
- Grade: A+
6. Cedar Park, Texas
- Safety Score: 93.4
- Affordability Score: 88.8
- Education Score: 95.2
- Child-Friendliness Score: 99.6
- Overall: 93.1
- Grade: A+
5. Naperville, Illinois
- Safety Score: 97.5
- Affordability Score: 88.8
- Education Score: 97.8
- Child-Friendliness Score: 86.2
- Overall: 93.8
- Grade: A+
You can see the full list of the best cities for raising kids in 2017 on Credit.com.
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This article originally appeared on Credit.com.
