3 Loudoun Communities Rank in Va.'s Top 10 for Raising Families: Research Study

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Three Loudoun County communities ranked in the top 10 in a newly released research study: "2017 Best Place to Raise a Family in Virginia" by the personal-finance website WalletHub. To determine the ranking, WalletHub analysts compared 82 communities statewide.

Leesburg ranked at #2 on the list, edging out two other Loudoun County communities, with South Riding placing at #4 and Ashburn at #8.

Falls Church ranked #1 in Virginia.

Here's the list of the top 10:

1. Falls Church
2. Leesburg
3. Vienna
4. South Riding
5. Great Falls
6. Forest
7. Poquoson
8. Ashburn
9. Fairfax
10. Cave Spring

To see the full list, click here.

To determine the ranking, WalletHub’s analysts compared 82 "cities" in the state across four key metrics: 1) Family Life & Fun; 2) Education, Health & Safety; 3) Affordability; and 4) Socioeconomics. Their sample considers only the "city" proper in each case and excludes "cities" in the surrounding metro area. To see the complete mathematical details of the methodology, click here.

Here's how the 3 Loudoun County communities ranked statewide on each of the 4 key dimensions. The number following the community is the ranking out of the 82 communities that WalletHub examined statewide.

1) Family Life & Fun: (includes: playgrounds per capita, number of attractions, share of families with children aged 0 to 17, weather, average commute time)

• Leesburg: 3
• South Riding: 9
• Ashburn: 8

2) Education, Health & Safety: (includes: quality of school system, high school graduation rate, air quality, pediatricians per capita, share of children aged 0 to 17 lacking health-insurance coverage, violent-crime rate per capita, property-crime rate per capita)

• Leesburg: 11
• South Riding: 39
• Ashburn: 20

3) Affordability: (includes: housing affordability, general affordability)

• Leesburg: 27
• South Riding: 5
• Ashburn: 17

4) Socioeconomics: (includes separation & divorce rate, share of 2-parent families, share of families living below poverty level, share of households receiving food stamps, unemployment rate, wealth gap, foreclosure rate)

• Leesburg: 7
• South Riding: 2
• Ashburn: 13

Leesburg also placed among the 6 communities statewide with the most attractions. South Riding was #1 and Ashburn #5 in the state for "most families with kids."

To read the entire "2017’s Best Places to Raise a Family in Virginia," click here.

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