Congratulations if you live in Woodbury, Minnesota. You’re in one of the top places to live in the U.S. according to Fortune. But the top spot goes to a college town in Michigan.
Nearly half of Americans who are raising children under the age of 18 are also shouldering the responsibility of regularly caring for their aging parents in some capacity, according to a survey of about 1,200 respondents conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Fortune in August.
The so-called sandwich generation – people in their late thirties, forties, and fifties – are trying to do it all, juggling the needs of both their growing kids and older parents often while working full-time jobs.
Resources within their communities including housing, local schools, nearby colleges, quality nursing homes, assisted living communities, home health care agencies, and prompt access to solid healthcare providers, can make the difference between a family surviving and thriving.
“Location can make all the difference when Americans are managing caregiver roles. High-quality schools, reliable health care, ample senior support, and safe neighborhoods help bolster the wellbeing of multigenerational families and mitigate stress for caregivers,” says Fortune.
Fortune found that seven in 10 Americans with at least one living parent say they expect to help their aging parents regularly in the future, with 88% of millennials planning to care for their baby boomer parents.
The Top 10 Best Places to Live for Families:
1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
2. Wylie, Texas
3. Olathe, Kansas
4. Mason, Ohio
5. Morrisville, North Carolina
6. Clearfield, Utah
7. Gaithersburg, Maryland
8. Leesburg, Virginia
9. West Chicago, Illinois
10. Novi, Michigan
Minnesota makes an appearance at number 14 with the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury. It’s the only town in Minnesota to crack the top 25. There were no cities from Wisconsin or either of the Dakotas on the list. Iowa City was ranked number 18.
To select the top 25 Best Places to Live for Families, Fortune evaluated nearly 2,000 cities, towns, suburbs, exurbs, villages, and townships that had between 25,000 and 750,000 residents across all 50 states in the U.S.
Fortune says, “This range provided a broad universe of places that offered high-quality amenities in communities with a hometown feel.”
To analyze each place, Fortune collected more than 215,000 unique data points across five categories:
Education
Aging resources
General wellness
Financial health
Livability
The rankings put a particular focus on families who are shouldering the responsibilities of raising their own children while caring for aging parents.
Fortune also attempted to highlight places that offered diverse neighborhoods, and the editors cut any town where more than 90% of the population is white, non-Hispanic.
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