Parenthood comes with a lot of concerns and uncertainties, and you may–nay, scratch that, WILL–find yourself worrying about things you never gave a single thought to as a non-parent. Is your child meeting all the right milestones? Is she eating enough? Is she eating too much? Is it normal for him to want to wear nail polish? Should you set up play dates or is that too helicopter mom-ish? When’s the right time to send him to preschool? Are you a bad mom for caving into her demands for jello first thing Saturday morning? Is there a “right” bedtime for each age group?

Many of the issues you find yourself faced with are minor, and your ultimate decision has little bearing on your child’s overall development and well-being. Other decisions, however, are relatively major and should only be decided upon after much careful deliberation, research and discussion. One such decision is where to live.

Where you live matters. It really does. However, despite popular belief, the “best environment” for a child doesn’t come down to blacktop versus rolling pastures, but rather, the “family-friendliness” of an area. But, you may wonder, what makes an area “family friendly?” Senior economist for realtor.com says that the following factors contribute to an area’s desireability:

• Being close to family
• Good job prospects for parents’ particular fields
• Affordability of housing
• The cost of living
• Good schools

While the first four factors certainly play into the decision of where to live, for most parents, where to live ultimately comes down to the schools. “For most people, it’s the quality of the [local] public schools that matter, because that’s where they’re likely to send their children.”

Some other factors that WalletHub looked at when coming up with its rankings for 182 cities across the nation include things like family recreation (playgrounds, museums and other family-friendly attractions), health and safety, child care, housing, general affordability and socioeconomic factors such as unemployment, divorce and poverty rates.

The average list price for a home is $371,258 and the average rent per month is $1,675, according to Trulia. The three elementary schools received full 10 rankings, while the middle and high schools received one 10 and two nines respectively. 66 percent of residents are college educated, and the median household income is $73,144, significantly more than the national median.

Don’t Want to Live in Kansas? Consider These 9 Other Cities

You don’t have to live in the Midwest to raise your child in decent environment. After applying its formula, WalletHub determined that the following nine cities were a close second to Overland Park:

• Irvine, CA: Median home price, $840,000; median rent, $3,600; school ratings, all 10; median household income, $96,520

• Fremont, CA: Median home price, $1,100,000; median rent, $3,300; school ratings, 10,6,8; median household income, $98,542

• South Burlington, VT: Median home price, $430,000; median rent, $2,375; school ratings, 10,9,7,6,1; median household income, $66,673
• Bismarck, ND: Median home price, $299,475; median rent, $1,450; school ratings, 9,7,5; median household income, $59,500
• Plano, TX: Median home price, $412,053; median rent, $1,195; school ratings, mostly 10s, 9s and one 8; median household income, $85,750
• Fargo, ND: Median home price, $261,629; median rent, $1,400; school ratings, 10,9,8,7,6,5; median household income, $44,401

• Sioux Falls, SD: Median home price, N/A; median rent, $1,250; school ratings, mostly 10s and 9s, one 8 and one 7; median household income, $52,266

• Huntington Beach, CA: Median home price,$773,000; median rent, $3,400; school ratings, mostly 10s and a few 9s; median household income, $88,089

• Gilbert, AZ: Median home price, $329,250; median rent, $1,595; school ratings, mostly 10s and 9s; median household income, $84,502

The Worst Places to Raise a Family

Just like WalletHub used its formula to rate the best places to live, so too did it use the formula to rate the worst places to live. Some factors that contributed to low rankings include the following: affordability, socioeconomic factors, poverty rates and crime rates per capita. In the past year, Newark, NJ, shot up from the number nine spot all the way to number one, officially making it the worst place to raise a family in 2018. This suburb of NYC had the fewest playgrounds per capita and the second-lowest median family salary.

10 worst places to raise a family:

1. Newark, NJ
2. Detroit, MI
3. Miami, FL
4. Cleveland, OH
5. Hialeah, FL
6. Baltimore, MD
7. San Bernardino, CA
8. Memphis, TN
9. Birmingham, AL
10. Wilmington, DE

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Source: The Patch

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By Christina Cordova

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Christina Cordova is a contributing writer at Shareably. She can be reached at [email protected].