Best Suburbs for Families

Smaller cities balancing schools, housing cost and hazard exposure

The tradeoff a household with children actually makes: schools worth moving for, housing you can still afford, and a place that is not paying for either in natural-hazard exposure.

100 locations · Calculated September 26, 2026 · Download CSV

The supporting columns show on a wider screen, and every column is in the CSV.

Narrow to one state

100 places, ranked nationally.

#	City	Score	State	Schools	Resilience
1	Middleton, WI	89.6	WI	92	97
2	Merrick, NY	89.2	NY	90	93
3	Solon, OH	88.7	OH	84	97
4	Avon Lake, OH	88.6	OH	83	96
5	Forest Hills, MI	88.4	MI	81	94
6	Brookfield, WI	88.4	WI	86	96
7	Dix Hills, NY	88.0	NY	83	95
8	Rocky River, OH	88.0	OH	89	97
9	Murrysville, PA	87.9	PA	89	93
10	Troy, MI	87.8	MI	87	94
11	Pleasant Prairie, WI	87.7	WI	80	99
12	Niskayuna, NY	87.4	NY	89	86
13	Royal Oak, MI	86.8	MI	78	94
14	Novi, MI	86.8	MI	86	94
15	New Berlin, WI	86.7	WI	84	96
16	Allison Park, PA	86.4	PA	94	81
17	Westlake, OH	86.4	OH	86	97
18	Bethel Park, PA	86.2	PA	93	81
19	Lisle, IL	85.5	IL	92	81
20	Ankeny, IA	85.5	IA	86	89
21	Massapequa, NY	85.2	NY	83	93
22	Crofton, MD	85.1	MD	82	94
23	Lenexa, KS	85.0	KS	88	83
24	Granger, IN	84.9	IN	84	95
25	Ilchester, MD	84.7	MD	85	95
26	North Royalton, OH	84.7	OH	78	97
27	Plymouth, MN	84.6	MN	81	93
28	Mequon, WI	84.6	WI	90	97
29	Strongsville, OH	84.6	OH	79	97
30	Rochester Hills, MI	84.6	MI	81	94
31	Eldersburg, MD	84.5	MD	85	90
32	Saratoga Springs, NY	84.5	NY	84	92
33	Birmingham, MI	84.5	MI	88	94
34	Leawood, KS	84.3	KS	95	83
35	Menomonee Falls, WI	84.2	WI	81	96
36	Mentor, OH	84.2	OH	75	97
37	Cave Spring, VA	84.1	VA	89	81
38	Bel Air South, MD	84.0	MD	79	94
39	Severna Park, MD	84.0	MD	80	94
40	Buffalo Grove, IL	83.9	IL	89	78
41	Avon, OH	83.8	OH	79	96
42	Eden Prairie, MN	83.8	MN	80	93
43	Columbia, MD	83.7	MD	79	95
44	King of Prussia, PA	83.6	PA	78	91
45	Winchester, MA	83.6	MA	95	88
46	Hudson, OH	83.5	OH	87	90
47	Towson, MD	83.5	MD	90	94
48	Wellesley, MA	83.4	MA	97	92
49	Wauwatosa, WI	83.4	WI	72	98
50	South Riding, VA	83.4	VA	86	90
51	Zionsville, IN	83.1	IN	85	84
52	Alpharetta, GA	83.1	GA	92	84
53	Mason, OH	83.0	OH	78	90
54	South Portland, ME	83.0	ME	100	94
55	Wadsworth, OH	83.0	OH	78	94
56	Arlington, MA	82.6	MA	89	88
57	North Laurel, MD	82.5	MD	70	95
58	Milton, GA	82.5	GA	86	80
59	Ellicott City, MD	82.5	MD	90	95
60	Oak Creek, WI	82.5	WI	62	98
61	Libertyville, IL	82.5	IL	95	80
62	Bettendorf, IA	82.5	IA	89	79
63	Levittown, NY	82.4	NY	90	93
64	Morrisville, NC	82.4	NC	88	72
65	Vernon Hills, IL	82.2	IL	92	80
66	Arnold, MD	82.0	MD	84	94
67	Beavercreek, OH	82.0	OH	66	93
68	Franklin, WI	81.9	WI	79	98
69	Portage, MI	81.9	MI	75	92
70	Shoreview, MN	81.9	MN	84	92
71	Carmel, IN	81.7	IN	89	76
72	Perrysburg, OH	81.7	OH	81	84
73	Papillion, NE	81.7	NE	90	75
74	Shawnee, KS	81.6	KS	80	83
75	Okemos, MI	81.5	MI	86	85
76	Irondequoit, NY	81.5	NY	86	96
77	Johnston, IA	81.4	IA	79	88
78	Oakton, VA	81.4	VA	91	80
79	Edina, MN	81.4	MN	86	93
80	Minnetonka, MN	81.4	MN	78	93
81	Plum, PA	81.3	PA	79	82
82	Bentonville, AR	81.2	AR	92	58
83	Chesterfield, MO	81.2	MO	90	67
84	Frankfort, IL	81.2	IL	86	83
85	Bel Air North, MD	81.1	MD	81	94
86	Franklin Town, MA	81.1	MA	82	92
87	Lakewood, OH	81.1	OH	62	97
88	Medina, OH	80.8	OH	75	95
89	West Islip, NY	80.8	NY	70	95
90	Plainview, NY	80.7	NY	96	93
91	Rockville Centre, NY	80.7	NY	94	93
92	Farmington Hills, MI	80.7	MI	67	94
93	Muskego, WI	80.6	WI	86	96
94	Sun Prairie, WI	80.6	WI	70	97
95	Valparaiso, IN	80.6	IN	80	93
96	East Massapequa, NY	80.5	NY	81	93
97	Waukee, IA	80.4	IA	84	76
98	Hauppauge, NY	80.4	NY	96	95
99	Wheaton, IL	80.4	IL	83	81
100	Urbandale, IA	80.4	IA	72	85

Methodology

The mean of three AreaProfile signals — Schools, Housing Affordability and Physical Resilience — published only where all three are available. They are weighted equally on purpose: this ranking is about the balance between them, and a standardized score has no basis for ranking one above the others. Housing affordability is measured against absolute thresholds (30% of income is the long-standing definition of a cost-burdened household) rather than against other published cities, so an expensive cohort cannot make itself look affordable.

What is excluded, and why

Cities under 20,000 or over 150,000 residents — the range is a deliberate proxy for a suburb, and it will include some independent small cities that are not suburbs of anywhere. Cities missing any of the three signals. Housing affordability covers rent, price and income only: it excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes, and commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

The top 100 of the 2,105 cities that meet these criteria are listed.

Sources

Federal Emergency Management Agency — National Risk Index (1.20.0)
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics — Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments (CCD 2024 directory, EDFacts 2018-19 school-year assessments)
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) (2024)

Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page, and how rankings like this one are built and reviewed is on the editorial policy page.