South Dakota City Is On List of Best Places To Raise A Family

Choosing the right city to raise a family is one of the most significant decisions parents make. Not only are you looking for affordable housing and good job opportunities, but you also want quality education, safe neighborhoods, plenty of green space, and a strong sense of belonging.

Wallet Hub's latest study shows Sioux Falls checking all the right boxes for family-friendliness, from its strong school system to its abundance of parks and a welcoming, small-town feel with big-city amenities.

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All these positives landed Sioux Falls in 18th place out of all the cities in this study.

Once again, Wallet Hub compared 180 of the largest cities in the U.S. in a number of categories to determine which cities are the best and worst places to raise a family.

The five major categories are:

1. Family fun
2. Health and safety
3. Education and child care
4. Affordability
5. Socio-economics

Within those categories, they considered things like:

• Number of playgrounds, skate parks, ice rinks, and mini-golf locations per capita
• Ideal weather
• Average commute times
• Air and water quality
• Pediatricians per capita
• Public hospital rankings
• Property and violent crime rates
• School system quality
• Daycare services
• Cost of living
• Housing affordability
• Unemployment rates
• . . .More

Sioux Falls offers top-rated education and serves more than 20,000 students, as well as having highly respected universities like Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls.

As far as green space goes, Sioux Falls has over 80 parks, plenty of hiking trails, picnic areas, and more.

Sioux Falls offers affordable housing compared to national averages, and families can enjoy financial stability that’s increasingly hard to find in other larger cities

When it comes to healthcare, Sioux Falls has top-notch facilities in Sanford Health and Avera Health. Families have access to cutting-edge pediatric care, urgent care clinics, and comprehensive medical services.

Rapid City also showed up in this study, a bit further down in the rankings at 80.

The top 5 Best Cities To Raise a Family Are:

1. Fremont, CA
2. Overland Park, KS
3. Plano, TX
4. Irvine, CA
5. South Burlington, VT

You can view the complete study on Wallet Hub.