The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family - Find out which cities in America are the best—and the worst—for you and your brood. By Research by Sara Vigneri; Illustration: Sean McCabe

Television executives seized the idea long ago: American families value where they plant their roots. The Cosbys had Brooklyn. The Cunninghams, Milwaukee. The Simpsons, Springfield.

But fathers face reality when they're not in prime time. They want to raise their children somewhere safe, where they can attend good schools with favorable student-teacher ratios, above-average test scores, and respectable budgets. Plenty of museums, parks, and pediatricians also contribute to a good quality of life, whereas multihour commutes, expensive houses, and divorcing friends and neighbors do not.

Best Life editors used these categories and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, FBI, American Association of Museums, National Center for Health Statistics, and American Bar Association to evaluate 257 cities. Here are the best—and worst—places to raise a family.

1      Honolulu, Hawaii (Schools spend almost $9,000 per pupil, unemployment ranks less than half the national average, and you can play on the island of O'ahu's 125 beaches.)
2      Virginia Beach, Virginia
3      Billings, Montana
4      Columbus, Georgia
5      San Diego, California
6      Des Moines, Iowa
7      Minneapolis, Minnesota
8      Madison, Wisconsin (Madison has a high number of pediatricians per capita.)
9      Colorado Springs, Colorado
10    Santa Rosa, California
11    Wichita, Kansas
12    Los Angeles, California
13    Corona, California
14    Austin, Texas
15    Stamford, Connecticut
16    Omaha, Nebraska
17    Naperville, Illinois
18    Fort Wayne, Indiana
19    Springfield, Illinois
20    Boise, Idaho
21    Manchester, New Hampshire
22    South Bay Area, California
23    New York, New York
24    Fontana, California
25    Louisville, Kentucky
26    Plano, Texas
27    Oceanside, California
28    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
29    Sacramento, California
30    Ann Arbor, Michigan
31    Reno, Nevada
32    Las Vegas, Nevada
33    Lincoln, Nebraska
34    San Bernardino, California
35    Grand Rapids, Michigan
36    Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (Median value of a home: $202,733)
37    Kansas City, Kansas
38    Fremont, California
39    Buffalo, New York
40    Berkeley, California
41    Cambridge, Massachusetts
42    Kansas City, Missouri
43    Waterbury, Connecticut
44    Syracuse, New York
45    Phoenix, Arizona
46    Albuquerque, New Mexico
47    Akron, Ohio
48    Boston, Massachusetts
49    Escondido, California
50    Fairfield, California
51    Antioch, California
52    Elgin, Illinois
53    Rochester, New York
54    Seattle, Washington (Residents spend $266 per person annually to maintain the city's parks.)
55    Tucson, Arizona
56    Santa Clarita, California
57    Denver, Colorado
58    Indianapolis, Indiana
59    Glendale, Arizona
60    Chicago, Illinois
61    Atlanta, Georgia
62    San Antonio, Texas
63    Mobile, Alabama
64    Concord, California
65    Denton, Texas
66    Coral Springs, Florida
67    San Francisco, California
68    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
69    El Paso, Texas (Classrooms average fewer than 16 students for every teacher.)
70    San Buenaventura, California
71    Worcester, Massachusetts
72    Baltimore, Maryland
73    Richmond, California
74    Lowell, Massachusetts
75    Portland, Oregon
76    Jacksonville, Florida
77    Fort Collins, Colorado
78    Orlando, Florida
79    Modesto, California
80    Montgomery, Alabama
81    Tampa, Florida
82    Salinas, California
83    Newport News, Virginia
84    Oakland, California
85    Augusta, Georgia
86    Fort Worth, Texas
87    Washington, D.C.
88    Tulsa, Oklahoma (Residents spend just 17 minutes commuting to work.)
89    Bellevue, Washington
90    Cincinnati, Ohio
91    McKinney, Texas
92    St. Louis, Missouri
93    Hayward, California
94    Midland, Texas
95    Sterling Heights, Michigan
96    Greensboro, North Carolina
97    Arlington, Texas
98    Alexandria, Virginia
99    Winston-Salem, North Carolina
100   Lexington, Kentucky

The 10 Worst Places to Raise a Family (from best to worst)

Springfield, Missouri
Dayton, Ohio
Corpus Christi, Texas
Flint, Michigan (Country's highest violent-crime rate)
Columbia, South Carolina
Waco, Texas
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Beaumont, Texas (Long-standing air-quality challenges)
Clarksville, Tennessee (Low educational spending: $6,729 per student)

Escape the hustle & bustle of Austin....

....and enjoy a fabulous life living in Georgetown with this gem!! More info @ www.225faubion.com

Economist: Austin economy keeps outperforming nation's as a whole

Against the worst national economy in more than 60 years, the Austin area stands out as the best market in the nation.

That's the bottom line from Mark Sprague, an expert who follows the economy and housing markets both locally and nationally.

Sprague, director of business development for Mission Mortgage in Austin, gave an overview of the economy and housing picture and delivered his 2012 forecast for the nation, state and Austin area to a group of real estate and mortgage lending professionals Thursday.

Sprague said the housing market has bottomed out in Austin and Houston, but nationally "has a ways to go." He said mortgage defaults and residential foreclosures will remain high, but he noted that more than half of the nation's foreclosures are concentrated in a handful of metro areas, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Sprague said he "tends to be negative" and conservative in his outlook, but the data show the local economy is outperforming the nation as a whole on several fronts. Its unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, lower than the statewide 7.9 percent rate and the U.S. rate of 9.2 percent.

Housing prices have held relatively stable — Austin didn't have the appreciation bubble and thus no major price drops — and the foreclosure rate isn't nearly as high in the five-county area as some other places — 1 per 1,044 homes compared with 1 in 60 in Las Vegas.

The Austin area also has a low supply of newly built homes on the market, with about a three-month inventory. Six months is considered a healthy balance . That comes amid growing demand, with 56,000 people a year — 153 a day — moving to the area.

"There's tremendous demand coming to this city," Sprague said. But there is a tight supply of apartments and houses to lease, and only 1,500 apartment units being built this year.

Sprague's positive local outlook was in contrast to a gloomy national forecast delivered Wednesday by Mark Dotzour, chief economist and director of research for the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.
Dotzour did predict good news for Austin, saying the area would continue to add jobs in the next year, at a 1.1 percent clip.

For 2011, the five-county Austin metro area is expected to add 7,000 to 11,000 jobs, with the gain probably closer to 15,200 more jobs this year than last, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Sprague said.

Austin has doubled its population every 20 years, he said, through every downturn for the past 100 years.
Nationally, Sprague said, recovery may take time. Economists project substantive growth will not occur until late 2012, he said.

But there are positive signs, he said. Among them: Corporate profits are up, credit markets have stabilized and housing prices have firmed in most markets.

In Texas, the state should see job growth of 1.5 percent and possibly 2 percent for this year, Sprague said. The state gained 133,100 jobs from August 2009 to August 2010 — about 48 percent of the 278,000 jobs added in the United States during that time.

"We're in a good place," Sprague said. And unlike Dotzour — who said he opened an account in Canada as a potential "escape value" — "I'm still keeping my money in the states," Sprague said.

Austin is #1 Place to Live!!!

RelocateAmerica's Top 100 Places to Live in 2011

Welcome to the 14th annual list of America's "Top 100 Places to Live". Each year RelocateAmerica researches, identifies and shares the best places to live in America. Over several months at the beginning of each year, the research & editorial team begin the process based on site nominations and issues most important to relocating consumers and homeowners for the year ahead. For 2011, the team found the best communities that are well positioned for economic recovery, already experiencing strong economic recovery or have proven overall economic stability. Factors such as employment, education, community leadership and overall quality of life are strongly considered and all the data is examined to determine the Top 100.

New for this year, we are giving local residents, business & community leaders the chance to weigh in on which Top 100 cities are worthy of Top 10 Status in various breakout categories. Below are the Top 10 Overall Cities for 2011. Don't despair if your city isn't listed, there is still opportunity to have a say in why your community may be worthy of another one of our Top 10 Breakout lists. 

2011 Top 10 Overall Places to Live

#1 Austin, Texas	#2 Grand Rapids, Michigan
#3 Boulder, Colorado	#4 Raleigh, North Carolina
#5 Dallas, Texas	#6 Greenville, South Carolina
#7 Augusta, Georgia	#8 Boise, Idaho
# 9 Omaha, Nebraska	#10 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Austin among top 100 places to live, report says

Austin is one of 100 finalists in RelocateAmerica's 14th annual best places to live contest.
The Texas capital city was one of three finishers in the Central Texas region. Round Rock and Cedar Park were also listed. The website is taking votes until Aug. 2 to decide the top 10 winners.
The company chose the finalists from nominations and other parameters considered important when relocating. This year, cities best positioned for economic recovery were considered high priority, as well as overall economic stability. This includes factors such as employment, education, community leadership and overall quality of life.
In March, Austin was named the second best job market in the U.S. Also in February, Business Review USA called Austin one of the eight best places to live and work.
Last year, Austin came in third on the RelocateAmerica.com list. Click here to vote for this year's winner.

Forbes calls Austin America’s No. 1 "boom town"

Austin was named the city most likely to grow and prosper during the next decade.

Forbes, in partnership with the Praxis Strategy Group, recently examined what the next decade has in store for America’s 52 largest cities. The publication used recent U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics growth and demographic data to compile a list of the expected "boom towns." The Central Texas region from Round Rock to San Marcos came in first.

The report lauded the Austin area for its impressive two-year employment and population growth, as well as the local number of college graduations and children. A separate report said Austin is expected to add 6,000 residents in one month this summer.Other Texas cities high on the list included: San Antonio/New Braunfels (No. 4), Houston (No. 5) and Dallas (No. 7).

A slideshow of Forbes' top boom towns is available here.

The ranking comes as no surprise, as Austin is a regular on regional "best of" lists. Click here for a roundup of its recent appearances.

Austin is accustomed to being at or near the top of this list. It also led the nation in small-business vitality in 2010, and was fourth in 2009. No U.S. market enjoys a faster annual growth rate for small businesses than Austin’s 1.5 percent

Austin, Houston rank as best places for young adults to get started

The Southwest has become the new frontier for young Americans -- the region that offers the widest range of opportunities for men and women getting started in their careers.
Four metropolitan areas in the Southwest, led by No. 1 Austin and No. 2 Houston, are among America’s seven best places for young adults, according to new rankings by On Numbers.
Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma City are the other high-rated Southwestern entries, ranking fifth and seventh, respectively.
On Numbers analyzed 65 metros with populations above 800,000, searching for qualities that would appeal to workers in their 20s and early 30s. The study’s 10-part formula gave superior marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living, and substantial pools of young adults who are college-educated and employed. (See the database below for top-to-bottom rankings, along with selected statistics.)
The top 10 U.S. cities for young adults in in the opportunity standings are:

1. Austin
2. Houston
3. Washington
4. Raleigh
5. Dallas-Fort Worth
6. Boston
7. Oklahoma City
8. Salt Lake City
9. Seattle
10. Baton Rouge, La.

The least desirable markets for young adults, according to the On Numbers study, are No. 65 Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., and No. 64 Detroit. Both areas have lost more than 2.5 percent of their jobs since 2006, and both are saddled with exceptionally high unemployment rates for workers between the ages of 16 and 34.
The 10 factors in the study’s formula were: 10-year population growth, five- and one-year employment growth, per capita income, five-year income growth, share of total population in the 18-34 age range, unemployment rate for the 16-34 age group, share of householders in the 18-44 age range who earn more than $150,000 a year, share of 18- to 34-year-olds with college degrees, and median rent.
All data were the latest available from the U.S. Census Bureau. On Numbers will focus more closely on a few of the factors above as the week progresses.

---

OPPORTUNITY RANKINGS FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Rank	Labor market	Opportunity score for young adults	Annual rate of population growth (2000-2010)	Annual rate of job growth (2006-2011)	Share of total population fitting in 18-34 age range (2009)	Jobless rate for 16-34 age range (2009)	Members of 18-34 age range with bachelor's degrees (2009)	Total population (2010)
1	Austin	9.827	3.22%	1.73%	29.31%	9.99%	29.36%	1,716,289
2	Houston	8.540	2.35%	1.23%	24.56%	10.43%	20.15%	5,946,800
3	Washington	8.127	1.53%	0.22%	23.98%	11.12%	38.78%	5,582,170
4	Raleigh	6.310	3.56%	0.80%	24.25%	12.26%	35.89%	1,130,490
5	Dallas-Fort Worth	5.943	2.13%	0.64%	25.13%	11.93%	20.76%	6,371,773
6	Boston	5.823	0.36%	0.05%	23.92%	11.55%	38.70%	4,552,402
7	Oklahoma City	5.689	1.35%	0.22%	25.89%	9.26%	21.20%	1,252,987
8	Salt Lake City	5.043	1.50%	0.16%	27.77%	9.90%	23.30%	1,124,197
9	Seattle	4.917	1.23%	-0.20%	25.04%	11.89%	29.09%	3,439,809
10	Baton Rouge, La.	4.600	1.29%	0.06%	26.89%	10.35%	20.14%