How Houston Ranked In Family-Friendly City List

When choosing where to live, big-city attributes like vibrant bar and restaurant scenes and full concert schedules aren’t the priorities for people with families. They’re more interested in things that contribute to a family’s quality of life and a child’s development, factors that contributed to Houston’s 3rd place ranking in a new analysis.

Home.com ranked the top 25 metropolitan areas in the United States for their overall family-friendliness based on the quality of schools, availability of child care, park areas per capita, crime rates, cost of living and commute times.

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

Houston received a total score of 37 out of a possible 50. The city ranked high for schools, parks, cost of living and commute time. It scored low in the child care category.

Two other Texas cities topped the list of the most family-friendly cities, with Dallas coming in at No. 1 and San Antonio at No. 5. The least-friendly city is Miami, Florida, with Riverside and San Francisco, both in California, Baltimore, Maryland, and Detroit, Michigan, also in the bottom five.

Here’s how the cities stacked up:

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

Photo via Shutterstock