New Ranking: These Iowa Cities Are the Best Places to Raise a Family

When it comes to raising kids and building a family, there are all sorts of things that are important.

Good schools, low crime, access to healthcare, and recreation, to name a few.

A new study found the best... and worst, places to raise a family. While no Iowa city was in the top 10, we had two in the top 100.

The Best Cities for Families: The Metrics

This study is from WalletHub, and it ranked cities based on a few key metrics to determine the best and worst places to raise a family in 2025. Each category was assigned a point value.

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Some are as follows:

Family Fun (20 Points)

• Including the number of playgrounds per capita

• Number of attractions per capita (zoos, museums, aquariums, etc.)

• Weather (mildness, annual sunshine, precipitation)

• Walkability and bike-friendliness

Health & Safety (25 Points)

• Crime rates (violent and property crime)

• Air and water quality

• Pediatricians per capita

• Hospitals per capita

• Road safety (traffic fatalities per capita)

Education & Child Care (20 Points)

• Quality of public schools (greatschools.org scores, test scores, graduation rates)

• Child care costs

• High school graduation rate

Affordability (25 Points)

• Housing affordability index (median income vs. housing costs)

• Cost of living index

• Unemployment rate

Socioeconomics (10 Points)

• % of families living in poverty

• Divorce rates

• % of two-parent families with children

READ MORE: These Are the Best Counties in Iowa to Raise a Family

The study then compared 182 U.S. cities (at least 2 per state) across those metrics.

The Best Places to Raise a Family, And How Iowa Did

The results were perhaps not too surprising. Since weather is a metric used, Iowa and its Midwestern brethren took a hit in this category, but overall did very well with over a dozen cities in the top 100.

The overall top 5 cities were:

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

As for Iowa, two cities landed in the top 100! Cedar Rapids came in at a strong 38th, and Des Moines was selected at 74th.

Lincoln, Nebraska, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Fargo, North Dakota, all finished in the top 20.

Another Study Worth Mentioning

While WalltHub is notorious for making a data salad to come up with its results, other studies that have focused on cities more locally have found some strong options that the massive national studies would pass over.

HomeSnacks last year did a similar study for just Iowa.

READ MORE: Wait... Is Iowa at Risk for an Earthquake? 

They found a few great places:

• Pella (population roughly 10,500): top in Iowa for families in a state-level ranking

• Johnston, Norwalk, Waukee, Clive, Urbandale, Ankeny, North Liberty, Waverly, Oskaloosa: all ranked in Iowa’s top 10 for family-friendliness

Not too shabby!