Magic City Ranks Dead Last For Family Friendliness

MIAMI, FL — No one questions our natural beauty, stunning turquoise waters and abundant night life. But a new analysis of 25 metropolitan area ranked the Miami area dead last for our family friendliness. Perhaps researchers failed to take note of the stunning aquarium at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, our many parks, pools, Zoo Miami, well-maintained beaches, bicycle paths and children's museum in their assessment of family-friendliness.

Home.com insists its rankings were based on overall family-friendliness which included the quality of schools, availability of child care, park areas per person, crime rates, cost of living and commute times.

Each factor was weighted and, not surprisingly, the most emphasis was placed on the quality of schools. Commute times were the least important factors.

The Magic City scored 23.75 out of a possible 50. We seem to have been dinged for our availability of parks per person and our availability of child care.

Several Texas cities topped the list of the most family-friendly cities, with Dallas coming in at No 1, Houston at No. 3 and San Antonio at No. 5. Other least-friendly cities are Riverside, California and San Francisco, Baltimore and Detroit.

Here’s how metropolitan areas stacked up for being family friendliness:

1. Dallas, Texas
2. Charlotte, North Carolina
3. Houston, Texas
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
5. San Antonio, Texas
6. Atlanta, Georgia
7. Phoenix, Arizona
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Portland, Oregon
10. Boston, Massachusetts
11. Denver, Colorado
12. Washington, D.C.
13. San Diego, California
14. New York, New York
15. Orlando, Florida
16. Seattle, Washington
17. Los Angeles, California
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19. Chicago, Illinois
20. St, Louis, Missouri
21. Detroit, Michigan
22. Baltimore, Maryland
23. San Francisco, California
24. Riverside, California
25. Miami, Florida

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science features a stunning aquarium. Photo by Paul Scicchitano.