Most Affordable Places to Raise Kids

by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts) Nov 21st 2008 5:00PM

Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Teens & Tweens, Money & Work, In The News, Playground Bureau, Extreme Childhood

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A Chicago-area suburb founded by German immigrants won the top honor in BusinessWeek's annual poll of "The Best Places To Raise Kids." Mt. Prospect, Ill., population 56,000, is a middle-class community with affordable housing, great public schools, and low crime.

Best Places for Kids

Is your town on the list?

Quality of public schools, job growth, safety, diversity and median income all make for a great town to raise a family. Find out more about the towns that made the cut.

jupiterimages, Getty Images

Mt. Prospect, IL
This tight-knit Chicago suburb with award-winning schools, ethnic restaurants and a small town charm, was selected as the most affordable place to raise kids in the U.S. "You won't find palatial estates here -- let alone McMansions. People generally live in modest homes with short driveways that touch the yards next door."

Getty Images

Gaithersburg, MD
Located at the end of Wasington, D.C.'s Metro Red Line, this former farm town has a population of 60,398 and is known for its diversity and affordability.

City of Gaithersburg

Anchorage, AK
The median income in Anchorage is about $80,000, and it is the largest city in Alaska. Residents benefit from a great economy, little crime and lots of fresh air.

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Gilbert, AZ
Residents of this Arizona city, located near Pheonix, have access to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, which draws species more than 200 species of birds. It also has a high median income of $89, 031.

Getty Images

Ann Arbor, MI
The quintessential college town, Ann Arbor is home to one of the country's finest public universities, the University of Michigan. Its residents enjoy seven golf courses, and a multitude of shops, restaurants and parks.

Getty Images

Malden, MA
This racially diverse suburb is located just six miles from the city of Boston, and has a median annual income of $67,599. Malden High School was a top 50 Masschusetts High School, according to Boston Magazine. Here, the high school's award-winning swim team.

Courtesy City of Malden

Arcadia, CA
Leave it to BusinessWeek to find an affordable city in California. Arcadia is about 20 miles from downtown L.A. and is home to the Santa Anita Park Racetrack and Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

Corbis

Fort Collins, CO

Fort Collins is the home of Colorado State University and is known for it's excellent schools, 600 acres of parks, low crime and a median income of $76,172. Its nearest large city is Denver.

Courtesy City of Fort Collins

New Rochelle, NY
This 10-square-mile city is located in New York State's ritzy Westchester County, and was the home of Laura and Rob Petrie in TV's "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Despite its location, it is still a relatively afforable New York City 'burb.

jupiterimages

BusinessWeek teamed up with a Manhattan-based firm that provides real estate analysis to come up with a list of each state's most affordable towns in which to raise a family. The criteria looked at includes: school performance, safety, affordability, quality of life, job growth, diversity and community amenities (such as ball fields, zoos, parks, etc.). Not included in the rankings were towns with populations less than 50,000 and median household incomes of less than $40,000 and more than $100,000.

Other towns to make the list? Huntsville, Ala., Anchorage, Alaska, Fort Collins, Colo., Wilmington, Del., Warner Robins, Ga., Boise City, Idaho, Fort Wayne, Ind., Overland Park, Kan., and Malden, Mass., to name just a few.

What is so interesting about this survey is that the majority of these towns have median incomes of around $55,000, putting to rest rumors that America's middle class is extinct. It gives me heart, because I always thought that good schools only existed in towns and cities with high property values -- or in other words, places where the rich folk live.

None of these places are exactly cosmopolitan, but these days my itch is less about being able to get suhsi at 1 a.m. and more about the kind of life I can give my children -- a life like I had growing up in Rochester, N.Y.

What makes your town a great place to raise children -- or not?

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