About
100 Best Places to Raise a Family-Selection Criteria
We compared 29 quality of life variables in the areas of employment, health,
housing, safety, education, and family life to calculate Children’s
Health’s 100 Best Places to Raise Children. These were our
sources:
Employment:
Cost of Living
SOURCE: ACCRA Cost of Living Index, Q1 2009
Unemployment (Monthly, May 2009)
SOURCE:
Bureau Of Labor Statistics
Percent change in employment
5/08-5/09
SOURCE: Bureau Of Labor Statistics
Mean Travel Time to
Work
SOURCE: 2007 American Community Survey, Census Bureau
Median
Family Income
SOURCE: 2007 American Community Survey, Census
Bureau
Health:
Fast Food Restaurants per
capita
SOURCE: Restaurant locator websites
Air Quality - Unhealthy
Days (for older adults and children)
SOURCE: Environmental Protection
Agency
Air Quality (NATA) - Cancer Risks per million
SOURCE:
Environmental Protection Agency 2002 National-Scale Air Toxics
Assessments
Air Quality (NATA) - Neurological Risk
SOURCE:
Environmental Protection Agency 2002 NATA
Air Quality (NATA) -
Respiratory Risk
SOURCE: Environmental Protection Agency 2002
NATA
Obesity
SOURCE: 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System, CDC
Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, by county.
SOURCE: 2005 CDC Wonder
Superfund Sites - National Priority List
SOURCE: Environmental Protection
Agency
Housing:
Percent of Occupied Housing Units
that are Owner-Occupied
SOURCE: 2007 American Community Survey, Census
Bureau
Percent of Mortgaged Owners Spending 30 Percent or More of
Household Income on Selected Monthly Owner Costs
SOURCE: 2007 American
Community Survey, Census Bureau
Percent of Renter-Occupied Units
Spending 30 Percent or More of Household Income on Rent and Utilities
SOURCE:
2007 American Community Survey, Census Bureau
Percent Change in House
Prices, Period ending March 31, 2009, over 1-year.
SOURCE: Federal Housing
Finance Agency
Comments
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How is Newark, NJ on this list? Is this the list of worst places? If not, I don't understand how you evaluated the criteria listed. Safety???? Education???? Housing????
Posted by: Cheryl on October 20, 10:21pm
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These lists are basically meaningless. I have lived in a few of these cities: Madison, Little Rock, and Dallas. Madison deserves its spot on here for sure, but Dallas and Little Rock? I love both these cities, but Little Rock is crime-ridden with gang and drug problems (it was Number 9 on Forbes' Most Dangerous Cities in America 2009--Another meaningless list?) and its public education system is a joke, as is Dallas's. There are plenty of other cities that should have taken their spots on this list.
Posted by: Judy on October 22, 1:45pm
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The headline is ridiculously misleading. It looks like their starting point was to identify the largest city in each state, plus the next biggest 50 cities from any state, (regardless of any actual quality of life factors) and then proceed to rank them. Stupidity.
Posted by: anonymous on October 22, 7:56pm
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Were you compensated by the cities of Newark and Jersey City for this?Seriously. Wow.. wow.. wow... check out the nj.com website about this article, I just can't fathom how factual unbiased research led you to your rankings. Really. Unbelievable. I am sure that this list and the rankings of JC and Newark of all the places you could have named in NJ, (Montclair for instance) raised red flags to all readers actually familar with these areas about your credibility.
Posted by: tcv on October 23, 12:47pm
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Were you compensated by the cities of Newark and Jersey City for this?Seriously. Wow.. wow.. wow... check out the nj.com website about this article, I just can't fathom how factual unbiased research led you to your rankings. Really. Unbelievable. I am sure that this list and the rankings of JC and Newark of all the places you could have named in NJ, (Montclair for instance) raised red flags to all readers actually familar with these areas about your credibility.
Posted by: TCV on October 23, 12:49pm
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I was dismayed to see Jersey City and Newark above more deserving cities on your list. Besides a history of crime and gang violence that residents know all too well, I think the educational spending charts are skewed because both are ABBOTT Districts - places so poor that the state has stepped in and paid for a constitutionally fair education.
Posted by: Jerseyan on October 24, 8:42am
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Your magazine has lost all credibility. Did a human actually review this list, or was it generated by a computer? In Newark, NJ there is almost a 100% chance that a young male will be threatened by a gang if he doesn't submit to recruiting. Despite some advances downtown, the neighborhoods are often controlled by gangs and drug dealers, and the good families, of which there are many, live in constant fear. Are you crazy?
Posted by: Bill D on October 24, 9:02am
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Your magazine has lost all credibility. Did a human actually review this list, or was it generated by a computer? In Newark, NJ there is almost a 100% chance that a young male will be threatened by a gang if he doesn't submit to recruiting. Despite some advances downtown, the neighborhoods are often controlled by gangs and drug dealers, and the good families, of which there are many, live in constant fear. Are you crazy?
Posted by: DWB on October 24, 9:22am
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Your magazine has simply lost all credibility. This is just bizzare! Did a human being review your computer generated mess? Why would you publish this?
Posted by: Bill D on October 24, 9:29am
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Your magazine has simply lost all credibility. This is just bizzare! Did a human being review your computer generated mess? Why would you publish this?
Posted by: Bill D. on October 24, 9:31am
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I am confused. NEWARK. Did you mix up your list of best and worst place to live.
Posted by: dbn on October 25, 9:21am
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29 criteria used for the ratings. and not a single one that measures the climate & weather of these places? Doesn't the number of warm, sunny days (or the number of rainy days per year) matter?
Posted by: Matt P on October 25, 10:59am
