The Best U.S. Cities to Move to for Raising Children
When it comes to raising a family, the right environment can make a world of difference, which sometimes means making a move. But whether you're relocating for work, a better school district, or for other reasons, there are important factors to consider. To help families make informed decisions that reflect their unique goals and priorities, and dreams, the team at HireAHelper has conducted a comprehensive study of city characteristics that could influence children's health, happiness, and success.
Based on our ten-factor analysis, we’ve provided a list of the best cities to raise a family in the United States, so you can make an informed decision for your own when it comes time to move.
Key Takeaways
- Data-Driven Family Rankings: The study uses a comprehensive 10-factor index—including public school quality, safety, park systems, and childcare costs—to rank the most family-friendly cities in the United States.
- Irvine, CA Takes the Top Spot: Thanks to its A+ rated public education, excellent safety scores, and superior park accessibility, Irvine, California ranks as the best U.S. city for children, despite its higher cost of living.
- Balancing Quality vs. Affordability: The report highlights a crucial trade-off for moving families, weighing high local median incomes and premium amenities against the steep financial realities of modern childcare and housing.
Daniel Cobb
Daniel Cobb is the a senior editor at HireHelper.com, where he combines nearly a decade of writing and editing experience with a personal passion for all things moving. A veteran of multiple DIY cross-country moves, Daniel has become a strong advocate for affordable, professional moving help. He now channels his hard-earned lessons into helping others avoid the pitfalls of DIY moving, making moving easier, safer, and less overwhelming.
About This Analysis
Based on our ten-factor analysis, we’ve provided a list of the best cities to raise a family in the United States, so you can make an informed decision for your own when it comes time to move.Click on the image below to view full size:
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What Is the Most Kid-Friendly City in the U.S.?
Irvine, California, ranks as the best U.S. city for children according to our index. While many cities across the country are great places to raise kids, Irvine scored the highest based on the kid-friendly qualities we measured. The schools in Irvine are highly rated, earning an overall A+ and top marks in public education. The city also has an A+ rating for being “Good for Families” and ranks 4th for “Best Cities to Raise a Family in America” on this popular neighborhood rating website.
These A+ grades granted Irvine a 30-point bonus apiece, helping to offset the penalties it faced due to higher costs of living and more expensive childcare. Although Irvine can be pricey, the high median income helps balance these costs. Additionally, Irvine excelled in metrics related to family fun, health and safety, and park quality, solidifying its reputation as one of the best cities for families, albeit for those who can manage the expenses.
Our Methods Used to Create the Family-Friendly Cities Index
If you’re interested in the individual metrics behind this index, below are the sources we used and why we chose them.
Niche’s 2025 Best Cities to Raise a Family in America
You can learn more about how Niche determines its “Good for Families” grade here. The factors considered include public schools’ grades, the percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher, the cost of living, and rates of violent and property crime. Additionally, home values, property taxes, and access to family amenities such as parks, libraries, and cultural activities are taken into account. Other important considerations include ethnic, generational, and economic diversity; weather and air quality; walkability; and the percentage of households with children. All these factors are important when choosing a great place to raise children.
Niche’s 2025 Places With the Best Public Schools
You can read more about how Niche determines its “Public Schools” grade here. Niche employs a multi-faceted approach that combines real insights from families with reliable data from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics. The quality of school districts is often one of the most influential factors for families when choosing a place to live, so we decided to emphasize this metric. Many of the top locations for families on our list are cities known for having the best public schools.
SmartAsset’s 2025 Study on the Salary Needed to Live Comfortably in U.S. Cities
This cost-of-living study, conducted by SmartAsset, used data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator to determine how much households need to earn to follow the 50/30/20 budget rule: allocating 50% to necessities, 30% to discretionary spending, and 20% to long-term goals, such as college and retirement. While we focused on the combined income of two adults with two children, we recognize that this does not reflect all family dynamics. Nonetheless, the figure offers valuable insight into the overall cost of living in the city.
Median Household Income
For median household income in each city, we used Census Reporter, a database that collects updated information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Community Survey. When average earnings are higher, families can provide more for their children and help offset the local cost of living.
Average Monthly Childcare Costs for an Infant and a 4-Year-Old
Childcare can be one of the most prohibitive expenses for parents and guardians raising their families. Full-time daycare in the United States takes up between 8.9% and 16% of a household’s income for just one child, making it a crucial factor when choosing where to establish roots as a family. We sourced data from LendingTree’s analysis of rent versus childcare costs by city for this metric.
Family Fun Rank and Family Health and Safety Rank
We gathered both sets of metrics from WalletHub’s incredibly in-depth analysis of the best and worst places to raise a family in 2025. To showcase fun cities for families, factors highlighting recreational opportunities for children and parents (and how easy they are to access) are included. In contrast, to identify safe cities for families, we looked at factors relating to the environment, healthcare, and community well-being.
Trust for Public Land’s 2025 ParkScore Index
Each year, the Trust for Public Land publishes a ParkScore ranking for the 100 most populous U.S. cities. This study compares cities across five categories: access (proximity to parks), amenities (playgrounds, dog parks, basketball hoops, etc.), investment (from the city), acreage, and equity (access for different demographics). Play and time outdoors are wonderful ingredients for every aspect of child development and overall well-being, so we considered this an important metric to include.
Best U.S. Cities for Working Parents Work Points
It can be profoundly challenging to balance work and raising a family. CoWorkingCafe has created a data-driven guide to the best U.S. cities for working parents, delving into metrics such as the number of coworking spaces, the ratio of remote workers to office jobs, and more. Since we already covered education, we chose to use just the work points given for each city to add a more dynamic, parent-forward perspective to the overall data.
Does the State Have Mandatory Paid Family and Medical Leave?
Finally, we decided to add a small bonus to cities in states with mandatory paid and medical leave. These include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. Why is paid leave important? In addition to the economic benefits of paid leave, it provides priceless opportunities for families to be present and engaged during the critical early childhood period. Research shows that paid leave is linked to long-lasting mental, physical, and cognitive benefits for both children and parents.
Why It Matters to HireAHelper
Did you know that the average American moves an estimated 11.7 times in their lifetime? While people relocate for countless reasons, a common motivation is to move to a great place to raise a family. We get it, we have families too! It is a big decision that requires extensive research, deliberation, and effort. The team at HireAHelper is proud not only to provide insights to help you decide where to move, but also to help you move there with ease!
The Top Cities to Move to for Raising Children
To determine the best U.S. cities to move to for raising children, we weighed 10 factors: public school quality, resident ratings on how family-friendly the city is, cost of living, childcare expenses, median household income, family fun, family health and safety, park quality, ease for working parents, and state-paid family leave policies. The methodology is listed below the data table.
For the family fun and health & safety scores, we subtracted their original ranks from 182 (the total number of cities in the WalletHub study) and then adjusted them.
Methodology
Niche’s Best Cities for Families and Public Schools Letter Grade (30 Points) A+ = 30 points A = 25 points A- = 20 points B+ = 15 points B = 10 points B- = 5 points C+ = 2.5 points C = 1 point
Cities rated below a C did not earn points.
Average Monthly Childcare Cost for an Infant and a 4-Year-Old (-20 Points)
Combined Salary Needed to Live Comfortably for Two Adults and Two Children (-20 Points) This salary is determined by MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, which factors in average costs for food, childcare, medical care, housing, transportation, civic needs, internet, mobile, and other expenses. Living comfortably means allocating 50% of salary to needs, 30% to entertainment, and 20% to debt repayment, savings, or investments.
Median Household Income (20 Points)
Family Fun Rank (15 Points) Factors include playgrounds, ice rinks, skate parks, bike rentals, and mini golf locations per capita; parkland acreage; walkability; bike score; fun attractions; recreation friendliness; sports fan friendliness; weather; share of families with young children; and commute time.
Family Health and Safety Rank (15 Points) Factors include air and water quality, access to healthy foods, pediatricians per capita, share of uninsured children, public hospital rankings, infant mortality rates, pedestrian fatality rates, driving fatalities per capita, violent and property crime rates per capita, and family homelessness.
Trust for Public Land’s 2025 ParkScore Index (10 Points) Factors include the acreage, accessibility, investment, amenities, and equity of park systems in each city.
Best U.S. Cities for Working Parents Work Points (10 Points) Factors include the share of remote workers, the share of remote-eligible jobs, and coworking space density.
Mandatory Paid Family and Medical Leave (10 Points)
Sources:
- Niche’s Best Places to Live for Families: https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/search/best-cities-for-families
- Niche’s Cities with the Best Public Schools in America: https://www.niche.com/places-to-live/search/cities-with-the-best-public-schools/
- WalletHub’s Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family (2025): https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-families/4435
- Coworking Cafe’s Best U.S. Cities for Working Parents in 2025: https://www.coworkingcafe.com/blog/best-cities-for-working-parents/
- Trust for Public Land’s 2025 ParkScore Index: https://www.tpl.org/parkscore
- LendingTree’s Childcare vs. Rent Study: https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/child-care-vs-rent-study/
- MIT’s Living Wage Calculator: https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/14460
- Care.com: https://www.care.com/
- State Family and Medical Leave Laws: https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/state-family-and-medical-leave-laws
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