This California City Is the Best Place to Raise a Family for the Third Year in a Row

The Bay Area is the ideal place to raise a family in the U.S.—the city of Fremont, California, to be exact. Personal finance website Wallethub just released its 2024 Best & Worst Place to Raise a Family report and Fremont took the top spot for the third year in a row.

Fremont must be a truly idyllic place because it also was named Wallethub’s Happiest City in America earlier this year, marking its fifth year in the number one spot. 

The city earned its spot as the best place to raise a family due to economic factors. The report found that it boasts one of the highest median family incomes after adjusting for the cost of living and it has the fourth-lowest share of families living in poverty. Fremont also has high-quality education and offers healthy lifestyle opportunities (only 1.4% of children lack health insurance and only 1.1% of the population lacks access to healthy food).

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The West made a strong showing on the top 10 list, with eight out of 10 cities from the region. Aside from Fremont, Irvine, California; Seattle, Washington; Gilbert, Arizona; San Jose, California; San Diego, California; Boise, Idaho; and Huntington Beach, California all were in the top 10. But not all cities in the West got stellar scores—San Bernardino, California, made the bottom 10.

To compile the report, the team at Wallethub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 45 key metrics, like cost of housing, cost of living, school-system quality, child-care costs, and  recreation opportunities.

“Finding the best place to raise a family is difficult, between balancing an affordable cost of living with good educational opportunities, safety and enough recreation to keep kids entertained,” Cassandra Happe, Wallethub Analyst, said in a statement. “On top of all of these factors, people also often want to raise their children close to their extended family. Therefore, current or prospective parents can benefit from narrowing down their choices to a few of the best cities that are within a reasonable drive of their family.”

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Take a look at the Best and Worst Cities for Families, according to Wallethub below.

Best Cities for Families

• Fremont, California
• Overland Park, Kansas
• Irvine, California
• Plano, Taxo
• Seattle, Washington
• Gilbert, Arizona
• San Jose, California
• San Diego, California
• Boise, Idaho
• Huntington Beach, California

Worst Cities for Families

• Augusta, Georgia
• Jackson, Mississippi
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Birmingham, Alabama
• San Bernardino, California
• Gulfport, Mississippi
• Newark, New Jersey
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Detroit, Michigan
• Memphis, Tennessee