This North Carolina city was named one of the nation’s best places for families
North Carolina is home to one of the nation’s best places for families, a new report finds.
The Raleigh metropolitan area ranks No. 4 on a list of regions with incomes, commute times and other factors that make them attractive for parents with children, according to results published last week from LendingTree.
To come up with the list, the online marketplace said it studied the 50 biggest U.S. metros using the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. With data from 2019, the most recent year available, each place was evaluated in seven categories: family income, housing costs, home ownership, average round-trip commutes, high school enrollment among teens, unemployment and percentage of homes with children.
Raleigh was near the top of the rankings after reporting one of the country’s lowest jobless rates for people 25 to 44 years old. The unemployment rate for that age group stood at 3.1% in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic upended the economy.
The Raleigh metro also received a nod for having kids in 35.1% of households, which was higher than most other cities in the rankings.
“Typically, more children living in an area means more schools and day care centers for families,” LendingTree said in its report. “Further, families might have an easier time fitting into a community if they aren’t the only ones with children.”
But Raleigh scored lower in other categories, landing the 12th spot for median income and the 13th spot for the percentage of families who have children and own their homes. It also ranked just about average in the remaining categories, results show.
It’s not the first time the Raleigh area has been recognized as a top place to live.
Last year, the city was named among the best in the nation for retirees and new graduates to settle down, McClatchy News reported.
On the more recent list, Charlotte was the only other North Carolina-based metro and ranked No. 12. LendingTree, which created the rankings, has a major presence in the Charlotte area.
Overall, the Salt Lake City metro was named the most family-friendly in the nation. Rounding out the top five were the Minneapolis, Kansas City and Cincinnati areas, results show.
The lowest-ranking places were Miami, New Orleans and Tampa.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 11:13 AM with the headline "This North Carolina city was named one of the nation’s best places for families."
