To determine the best cities for families, we culled statistics from the below sources, inputted the nearly 4,000 pieces of data for 100 cities into a database, ranked the cities on categories such as Education, Health, Community and Parenting Magazine's Culture & Charm Index, and then calculated our winners.
Education sources:
Blue Ribbon School per 100,000 people from the US Department of Education
Child/Staff Ratio for Daycare from the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center
Cost of full-time care for an infant in a center, as percent of median income for married-couple families with children under 18 from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
Accredited day care centers per 100,000 people from the National Association for the Education of Young People
Freshman Graduation Rate from the National Center for Education Statistics
Proficiency in math and reading for grade 8 from the National Assessment of Educational Progress
Per Pupil Expenditures from the National Center for Education Statistics
Pupil/Teacher Ratio from the National Center for Education Statistics
Playgrounds per 10,000 people from the Trust for Public Land
Kaboom! Playful City USA playgrounds
Colleges per 100,000 people from the National Center for Education Statistics
