Families often move for different reasons. The average American can expect to move 11.7 times in a lifetime. Moving can indicate opportunities, like a new job or long-term wealth accumulation, but people may also move because of insecurity, such as foreclosure or job loss. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, families will likely be looking for cities that provide the most safety and have the lowest unemployment rates.

With families in mind, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 46 key metrics that consider essential family dynamics, like the cost of housing, the quality of local school and health-care systems, and the opportunities for fun and recreation. While not perfect, given personal preferences and the limitations of publicly available data, these findings will hopefully give movers a sense of their options.

To determine which cities are most favorable to family life, WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities, including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state, across five key dimensions: family fun, health & safety, child care & education, affordability, and socio-economics. They assessed using 46 metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for family life.

The top ten best places to raise a family are as follows:

1. Fremont, California
2. Overland Park, Kansas
3. Irvine, California
4. Plano, Texas
5. Columbia, Maryland
6. San Diego, California
7. Seattle, Washington
8. San Jose, California
9. Madison, Wisconsin
10. Scottsdale, Arizona

The worst places to raise a family include:

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Cleveland, Ohio
3. Memphis, Tennessee
4. Birmingham, Alabama
5. San Bernardino, California
6. Newark, New Jersey
7. Fayetteville, North Carolina
8. Shreveport, Louisiana
9. Jackson, Mississippi
10. Augusta, Georgia

New York City, Chicago, and Charlotte all tied at number one for the most playgrounds per capita. At the same time, Garland, Texas, Jersey City, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, and Hialeah, Florida had the least playgrounds. Regarding attractions, New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, and San Francisco are tied for the most attractions. On the other hand, West Valley City, Utah, and Garden Grove, California, had the least.

In the category of housing affordability, the most affordable cities were Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Akron, Ohio, Overland Park, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Des Moines, Iowa. For the least affordable, Long Beach, California, ranked number one, followed by Miami, Florida, Glendale, California, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Raising a family is a big order. With so many important decisions to make, it can be hard to determine what the best decision will be for your family. Before deciding to move to a new city, it may be best to make two separate visits, each lasting about a week: one with you and your spouse and the other with the whole family. If you use this method, you and your spouse can check out things for the two of you to do and research some activities for the kids. That way, you’ll know what to do when visiting with the kids. Finally, it would help if you and your spouse sat down and weighed the pros and cons of moving to a new city.