City Family-Friendliness Score
See how family-friendly a city feels based on schools, safety, parks, and family amenities. Compare cities and adjust priorities for your family.
Check how family-friendly a city feels
Combine schools, safety, parks, and family amenities into a simple index.
Pick one or two cities, then choose what matters most for your family.
What Makes a City Family-Friendly?
Understanding the factors that contribute to a city's appeal for families with children.
What is the Family-Friendliness Index?
The Family-Friendliness Index is a composite score (0-100) that estimates how welcoming a city is for families with children. It combines six dimensions: school quality, safety, parks and green space, family amenities, housing suitability, and overall cost.
Higher scores indicate cities where families may find better schools, safer neighborhoods, more outdoor spaces, and family-oriented services and housing options.
How We Approximate Scores
We combine school ratings, crime statistics, park access data, and cost indices into normalized 0-100 scores for each dimension:
- •Core factors (75%): Schools, safety, parks, amenities
- •Support factors (25%): Housing suitability, cost
The Six Dimensions We Measure
School Quality
Aggregated school ratings, test scores, and educational outcomes. Note: Quality varies significantly by district and individual school.
Safety & Crime
Relative crime indices based on public data. Higher scores mean lower crime rates. Not a guarantee of safety—neighborhood variation is significant.
Parks & Green Space
Access to parks, playgrounds, and outdoor recreation areas. Based on park acreage per capita and proximity to green spaces.
Family Amenities
Libraries, recreation centers, kid-friendly activities, daycare availability, and family-oriented community programs.
Housing Suitability
Availability of family-sized homes, yards, multi-bedroom units, and housing types suitable for families with children.
Cost for Families
Overall cost of living from a family perspective, including housing, childcare costs, and everyday expenses.
Limitations and Important Notes
- •This is a starting point for research, not a definitive ranking
- •School and crime data are city-level aggregates; local variation is huge
- •Data may be 1-2 years old and may not reflect recent changes
- •Personal priorities (special needs, specific schools) are not modeled
- •This is NOT school placement advice or child safety advice
- •Always visit and research neighborhoods in person before decisions
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the City Family-Friendliness Score
The score is a composite index (0-100) that combines six dimensions: school quality, safety/crime levels, parks and green space access, family amenities (libraries, playgrounds, programs), housing suitability for families, and overall cost of living. Higher scores suggest a city may be more welcoming for families with children based on these factors.
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