Choosing where to raise your family comes down to various factors. It may be due to work, where your extended family lives, or where you grew up. Or you may be thinking about relocating for personal preferences. In that case, you might be wondering about the best places to raise a family in the United States.

Personal finance company WalletHub released a new report revealing the best and worst cities in the country for families. It compared 182 cities across the U.S. to determine the most favorable ones.

“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. On top of all of these factors, people also often want to raise their children close to their extended family,” Chip Lupo, WalletHub’s Analyst, says in a statement. “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.”

Let’s break down WalletHub’s findings. 

WalletHub looked at five key categories—family fun, health & safety, education & child care, affordability, and socio-economics—to create its list. To evaluate the categories, it used 45 metrics and each was graded on an 100-point scale. The final ranking was determined using the weighted average of the metrics. WalletHub concluded these are the top 10 cities for families in 2025:

Fremont took the top spot mainly because of economic reasons. It has the third-lowest share of families living in poverty and those receiving food stamps. It has the highest median family incomes adjusted for cost of living at nearly $130,000. The California city has a good education system too—58.3% of public schools have a 7 out of 10 rating. There are also many summer camp opportunities and it has the fifth-most parkland acres per capita. The majority of kids in this city have health insurance and access to healthy food. 

But the other top cities also have appealing factors, and some rank higher in certain categories. For example, South Burlington ranks No. 1 for education and child care, while Overland Park is No. 1 in affordability. And if you’re interested in family fun, San Diego ranks No. 5 in that. That’s also about an hour and half drive from the No. 11 city, Huntington Beach, California, aka the Surf City USA, which ranks No. 90 in family fun.

If your family lives in one of the lower ranking cities, you may be discouraged by the list, especially because of the privilege of being able to relocate to a top U.S. city. But the reality is no city will rank No. 1 in everything. And it's not all bad news for families living outside of the top cities. Just take a look at San Bernardino, California; it came in at No. 175 but ranks 22 for family fun. Same goes for Newark, New Jersey which ranks 178 overall but No. 53 in education and child care.

Parents have power, too. They can advocate for change in their communities by participating in school board meetings, joining a parent-teacher association (PTA), and voting locally if they are able to. Don't forget about local community programs that offer enrichment opportunities for kids. And remember, a loving and supportive home goes a very long way.