REVEALED: The best (and worst) US cities to raise a family in 2024

Fremont, California, has been named as the best city to raise a family in 2024. 

That is according to a new study from personal finance website WalletHub. 

Until this accolade it was perhaps most famous for its manufacturing. For decades it has housed car factories - GM in the past and Tesla today - and it is also where Steve Jobs manufactured the first Apple gadgets.

The analysis compared more than 180 US cities based on 45 key metrics - including the cost of housing, the quality of local school and healthcare systems and average household income.

It also considered safety - and if an area presented opportunities for family fun and keeping children entertained. 

Also in the top five cities to raise a family, according to WalletHub, were Overland Park, Kansas, Irvine, California, Plano, Texas, and Seattle, Washington. 

With stubborn inflation squeezing household budgets and the cost of childcare soaring, many families will be looking for an affordable and stable city to raise kids.

Fremont, which is home to around 230,000 people, took the top spot in the WalletHub study largely due to economic factors. 

The city boasts one of the highest median family incomes after adjusting for the cost of living, at close to $122,000, the study found. 

It also has the fourth-lowest share of families living in poverty, as well as the third-lowest share receiving food stamps. 

The Californian city also has one of the highest rates of families with children under 18 - at 50.5 percent - and highly rated public schools and a large number of parkland acres per capita.

Only 1.4 percent of children lack health insurance, the second-lowest percentage in the country, and only 1.1 percent of the population lacks access to healthy food. 

Fremont is close to Silicon Valley in the Bay Area of California. At the start of the area's technology boom, firms often made their gadgets there.

The City of Fremont's website says: 'In Silicon Valley speak, Fremont is the "hardware side of the Bay" and we're proud of it. Apple and Steve Jobs chose to open their first manufacturing site here in 1984. 

'And dating back to 1960, the automotive industry has produced millions of trucks and cars from Fremont's assembly lines. Today, we're home to over 900 advanced manufacturing companies in our various employment hubs, representing 1 in every 4 jobs.'

Second on the list for the best cities to raise a family was Overland Park, Kansas - the second most populous city in the state. 

It has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, at 2.4 percent, along with one of the highest median family incomes, at over $140,000 after adjusting for the cost of living. 

It has the 10th lowest separation and divorce rate in the country, as well as a high percentage of two-parent families - at nearly 82 percent. 

Overland Park is also a safe place for kids, according to WalletHub, with a low infant mortality rate and a low traffic fatality rate. 

 

Irvine, California, is the third-best place to raise a family, the study found, due to its low crime rate and highly-rated schools. 

The city is among the most affluent in the US, however, with the average home costing upwards of $1 million, according to Zillow.

Plano, a north Texas city located close to Dallas, came in fourth in the study - ranking highly for affordability and health and safety. 

And fifth on the list is Seattle, Washington, which also ranked in the top ten of cities for affordability and health and safety. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Memphis, Tennessee, received the lowest ranking in the study.

It fell down on education and childcare, and had the highest rate of violent crime per capita in the study. 

Detroit, Michigan, also received a low ranking when it came to raising children in the city. 

Although it had some of the most playgrounds per capita among the cities analyzed, it had the lowest median family salary (adjusted for the cost of living) and the highest percentage of families living in poverty. 

'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,' said Cassandra Happe, WalletHub analyst. 

'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.'