ZipRealty today released its second annual ranking of the 10 Best Places for Families to Live: Top School Districts with the Most Affordable Housing. The list was compiled by analyzing the highest-rated school districts in 23 metros nationwide and the median price per square foot for real estate in that district. To be considered, at least 10 home sales must have closed in that region's school district in 2013. Minneapolis, Austin and Portland made the list for the second consecutive year.
ZipRealty's School Score ratings measure the performance of each school district, including elementary, middle and high schools, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. ZipRealty calculates the School Score based on test-score data. Cross-referencing those School Scores with housing information such as per square foot sales prices gives consumers a window into the most affordable areas with the strongest local education systems.
The 10 Best Places for Families to Live, based on the quality of the local school district and median price per square foot, are:
| METRO AREA | SCHOOL DISTRICT | SCHOOL SCORE | PRICE/SQ. FT. |
| Minneapolis | Delano Public School District | 9.2 | $101 |
| Charlotte | Fort Mill School District | 9.1 | $102 |
| Dallas | Lovejoy Independent School District | 9.1 | $114 |
| Chicago | St. Charles C.U.S.D. 303 | 9.0 | $122 |
| Boston | Harvard Public Schools | 9.1 | $179 |
| Portland | Lake Oswego School District 7J | 9.8 | $192 |
| NYC/Long Island | Nanuet Union Free School District | 9.0 | $199 |
| Austin | Eanes Independent School District | 9.1 | $237 |
| Orange County, Calif. | Los Alamitos Unified School District | 9.2 | $321 |
| Seattle | Mercer Island School District 400 | 9.1 | $344 |
A better title for this article would be: The Ten Places Where the Most Similar Families Live. Or: The Ten Places With The Least Demographic Diversity. The perceived quality of life comes from the fact that these relatively homogeneous populations are best suited to the unresponsive and inflexible structures of city governments and school districts.
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious. We looked at Delano when we were moving out of Chicago to Minnesota. We met with the school Principals in Delano, but there werent any houses that were reasonable in Delano for us as we wanted a few acres. Most of the homes were pretty old. Also, Delano is pretty far from the cities. More than 30 minutes, more like 40. The traffic on Hwy 12 is brutal during the standard rush hour periods.
ReplyDeleteFor me the real problem with living in Delano is that it is named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The surrounding countryside is called Franklin Township. And to this day, those people are progressive types, as are way too many Minnesotans. We moved to Orono. The schools are as good or better. It is slightly more expensive but way closer to Minneapolis. Frankly as soon as the kids finish school in 7 or 8 years we will move elsewhere as I am not down with a top state tax rate of 10%.