Takoma Park Among Best Places To Raise A Child: Survey

TAKOMA PARK, MD — Many residents already know this: Takoma Park can be a great place to raise a family. A new study from home security group SafeWise agrees, naming Takoma Park one of the 50 safest cities to raise a child.

In fact, it's in the top 3. The city earned praise for its sense of community, among other things. Takoma Park ranks No. 3 on the list of the safest cities for raising a child, according to SafeWise.

Here's what the security experts had to say about Takoma Park:

"This city has a town arborist and its own poet laureate, but Takoma Park’s strengths aren’t limited to cultivation and culture. People take care of one another here—the town has a crew called the Snow Angels who dig out neighbors buried under the city’s thirteen inches of annual snowfall. It’s that kind of community spirit that helped Takoma Park nab a spot on our list."

See the full list here.

Analysts used various data to define which cities in the United States excel at creating safer environments for families. The SafeWise team reviewed reported sex offender concentration, state graduation rates, overall school quality ranking, and FBI violent crime data. The organization also considered parks and recreational opportunities as well as special programs focused on providing services for kids and families.

SafeWise said it wanted to take a closer look at safety trends and factors before picking this year's safest cities to raise a child.

"Due to recent news about free-range parenting—Utah even passed a law—we decided to factor that parenting style into our research. We dug deep into eight factors to help us identify the safest cities to raise children—those who remain under close supervision and those who are allowed to wander on their own," the report said.

The top 30 safest cities were highlighted, along with each city's walkability score, violent crime rate, and overall child safety score, which is a combination of eight factors that were considered. Every city on the list is below the national average for violent crimes (3.97 per 1,000 people).

Here are the top 10, which included two other Maryland towns:

1. Easton, Maryland
2. Keene, New Hampshire
3. Takoma Park, Maryland
4. Havre de Grace, Maryland
5. Village of Shorewood, Wisconsin
6. Exeter, New Hampshire
7. Monroe, Wisconsin
8. Milford, New Hampshire
9. Claremont, New Hampshire
10. Burlington, Wisconsin

— With reporting from Patch editors Katie Kausch, Daniel Hubbard and Tom Davis.

(Image via Shutterstock)