Sioux Falls Ranks High On ‘Best Cities to Raise Kids’ List

One of the major items people mention about being in Sioux Falls, or moving here, is the fact that it is a very family-friendly city and a great place to raise kids.

Agree or disagree, (and there are people who do, disagree, that is) WalletHub has again this year crunched numbers to come up with their list of Best and Worst Places to Raise a Family.

Once again, they compared 150 of the largest U.S. cities and at least two of the most populated cities in each state, using five main criteria to come up with the rankings.

Get our free mobile app

Overall, Sioux Falls did well, coming in at number 20. That is not to say there isn't room for improvement. The 5 main elements they looked at include:

1. Family Fun
2. Health and Safety
3. Education and Child Care
4. Affordability
5. Socio-economics

Family Fun examples included:

• The number of playgrounds, ice rinks, and skate park locations.
• Total number of "family fun" attractions
• They also included weather in this category

Health and Safety included:

• Air and water quality
• Number of pediatricians
• Driving fatalities
• Crime rates

Education and Child Care criteria:

• School System Quality
• High School graduation rates
• Child Daycare services and costs
• Parental leave policies

Affordability looked at:

• Cost of living
• Home affordability

Socio-economic factors:

• Unemployment rates
• Wealth gaps
• Separation & divorce rates
• Number of families living in poverty

Once again, these are just a few of the elements they compared in each category.

Sioux Falls rated spectacularly low (158) in the Family Fun division and very high (15) in the affordability section.

As I said, always room for improvement.

To see the complete study, see WalletHub.

Source: WalletHub