Forbes' 20 best counties to raise kids in US -- no big cities make the list
Posted December 4th, 2008 by Agesilaus
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Zack O'Malley writing for Forbes, 6/30/08:
"Forbes' rankings are skewed toward counties with good school districts. Using research provided by the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., we started with a list of the nation's counties with populations over 65,000. To eliminate under-funded school districts, we isolated 97 counties where more than half of per-pupil spending comes from property taxes.
Next, we knocked off all the counties with average SAT scores under 1,050 (math and verbal combined) or average ACT scores under 22, leaving us with 51 counties.
Raising a happy family requires more than just a good school system. With that in mind, we ranked the remaining counties using 10 data points: cost of living, graduation rate, standardized scores, home price, property tax rate as a percentage of median home price, percentage of homes occupied by owner, per-capita income, air quality, crime rate and commute time."
The Final Cut:
1. Hamilton Cty, Indiana -- north of Indianapolis
2. Ozaukee Cty, Wisconsin -- north of Milwaukee
3. Johnson Cty, Kansas -- southwest of Kansas City
4. Geauga Cty, Ohio -- east of Cleveland
5. Delaware Cty, Ohio -- north of Columbus
6. Morris Cty, New Jersey -- west of Newark
7. Hunterdon Cty, New Jersey -- north of Trenton
8. Waukesha Cty, Wisconsin -- west of Milwaukee
9. Montgomery Cty, Penn. -- north of Philadelphia
10. Chester Cty, Penn. -- west of Philadelphia
11. Martin Cty, Florida -- north of West Palm Beach
12. Washington Cty, Rhode Is. -- south of Providence
13. Albemarle Cty, Virginia -- west of Richmond
14. Collin Cty, Texas -- north of Dallas
15. Marin Cty, California -- north of San Francisco
16. Somerset Cty, New Jersey -- southwest of Newark
17. Howard Cty, Maryland -- southwest of Baltimore
18. Minnehaha Cty, S. Dakota -- north of Sioux Falls
19. Sarasota Cty, Florida -- south of Tampa
20. Norfolk Cty, Massachusetts -- west of Boston
For slide show with maps: http://www.forbes.com/200...
Not a single big city made the list. How come?
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Heh heh, horseshit!
I lived in Trumbull right next to Geauga in Ohio. It was no better than any other county. It was at one time maybe. Forbes must be hype promoting some rural counties for someone with a few development contracts in their hand. That's why there are no 'big cities' on that list. Geauga was just beginning to start growing. Right about now it's ripe for the picking for development. Money sticks with money.
Hey, if they have to include
Hey, if they have to include a place in the Bay Area, at least they picked the right one. Marin is quite nice for a socialist republic. Especially the western part.
Their selection criteria is largely clueless, though. No county where citizens aren't even allowed to carry a gun should even be considered. They are by definition oppressive hell holes, even if the geography and climate might be nice, and they contain enough expensively tutored children of overambitious social climbers, and perhaps Asian immigrants, to keep SAT scores above norm.
A much, much more accurate way of ranking desirability would be to simply look at what percentage of the vote Ron Paul received in the GOP primaries. And perhaps combine this with the percentage of children home schooled, and percentage of adults who are members of a militia.
I agree
Yuppyvilles...all is relative when it comes to "good" communities. Of course we at the Daily Paul, would have a list that probably doesn't resemble this one. Again just another team member in the media fraud game. For instance I know that Johnson County, KS is a yuppyville, materialistic, big homes, fancy cars, gourmet restaurants, mainly consisting of Wasps or affluent Asians and Middle Eastern. The only reason why it may be considered safe is because the bad things are happening behind closed doors. Probably like some of the other areas on the list. My ideal small town would be one that is of course constitutionally respectful, environmentally respectful, affordable, accessible natural resources (water) and self sufficient as possible. I know there are towns out there like this, however i doubt they made THIS list!
Small towns might be great for raising kids
but your teenagers will curse you for it.
LOL, We live 30 miles from a small town.
The kids loved our wilderness 40 acres, till they were teens, (except for the boys, 3 of them). I hear it from the teen girls though, every time I mention are you still on the phone? are you still texting? Still imming your friends? And they reply, Mom, we live 30 miles from town, it is my LIFE!
But, when they grow up, which most have, they are thankful they grew up in the country, and learned all those things, like gathering the cord wood, cooking, gardening, etc. But, not until they are adults.
Teenagers are from outer space.
Wouldn't go back to that time in my life for anything.
Me neither. In fact, since I am on my 6th teen
and having gone through the many embarrassments that teens cause their parents, my main amusement is coming up with ways to embarrass my last two remaining teens. I recently broke my kneecap and big toe (opposite legs), and my teen girl has been taking care of me, along with her lectures on hurting myself. So I shaved my legs, in case I had to go to the doctor, and she said she was going to the doctor with me, to make sure I told him that I wasn't taking it easy, so i told her " Well I shaved BOTH legs in case the doctor has to compare knees, and when he asks to look at the unhurt one, I will say " Good thing I shaved both legs". She decided that she would not go with me to the doctors, because it would be too embarrassing. Oh well, shouldn't have told her......
I'm surprised
they didn't list
China town, NY
"Look, Lovey, they included our favorite Yacht Club!"
Ignoring the hundred rural counties in Texas where farms and ranches grow, they chose Collin County, deep in the urban shadow of Dallas. Ignoring the wine country, green forests, and open deserts in California, they chose Marin County---yacht club destination. Ignoring the distinctive funky beach towns, fishing havens, and agricultural regions in Florida, they chose precious Sarasota County, home to art galleries and snotty shops catering to the filthy rich.
Speaks volumes about the list makers and their ridiculous sensibilities.
SUPPORT OUR FOUNDERS' AMERICA
Support the Constitution of the United States
Yeah, they should have Brewster Cty,Texas nobody bothers you
HYDROMAN
or your children out there. And you can cross the Rio Bravo to get away if needed.
But ooh! The price we pay!
Sure the money's crazy but, it's the fascism that hurts.
My two bedroom cap-cod, on 1.5 acres of wet red clay, is valued by the town at $235,000. My property tax is $6800 per yr.
I don't know what the real cop per capita ratio is but, it seems like 9/1. I was stopped by three cops in two cars, for walking down the street, in front of my house, looking like I do. This is not an easy place to be anything other than a white-collar yuppie.
Yes, we have fabulous schools. If you can afford to buy into the neighborhood and pay all the cost of staying there.
We also have a town council that found it necessary and proper to take 750 acres of privately owned land from the local pleasure craft airport because, they needed to preempt any chance that the airport could expand. The eminent-domain action will pay the airport about 1/3 the market value. Bonds will be issued to raise the money. Taxes will be raised to pay for the bond. The terms under which the town holds the land allows the town to sell it at market price if the right deal comes along.
Welcome to New Jersey.
Sounds like Solburg Airport to me
Very familiar with that area, grew up nearby and recently spent six months within a mile of it when our house was under renovation.
F&*king Mayberry... got pulled over there on New Year's day in a 45 MPH "safe corridor" doing 69 at the bottom of a mile-long downgrade. I was the only vehicle on the road.
Cost me almost $1000 on my night in court between fines and lawyer's fees, with over 200 other people were gathered in the Taj Mahal to pay homage to the state.
What a racket.
The bright side is the very overweight "officer" who ticketed me had his cruiser crushed by a commuter train a few months later, parked to close to the tracks waiting for "criminals". Nobody got hurt.
But guess what's going to pay for the new Ford Interceptor, more tickets!
Same cop pulled my father in law over for sneezing while driving.
=======
...In Liberty
A cop pulled your father-in-law over for sneezing while driving?
That's as bad as the guy charged with felony assault on a police officer because he had to pass gas while he was being booked for something minor.
Get the tow truck Gomer
Don't let the landscape fool you. TPTB here know all about taking your money. The Plumber
You've got it easy
That same house in Howard County, MD would be $800,000.00 at least and taxes over $10,000.
A guy a few years ago won powerball and built a beautiful home in HoCo, he had to sell before he even moved in because the taxes were more than his annuity payments.
Boy, you better know it:
I am still slowly working on getting out of Frederick Co. MD. because they have simply priced me out with property taxes.
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I love my country
I am appalled by my government
I have freinds in Arkansas
40 acres outside Hot Springs. Taxes are $435 p/yr
Too bad they all fix their own toilets. The Plumber
Usually
Safe places like these have cops hiding behind every rock and bush just waiting separate you from your money.
Forbes believes happiness revolves around
money, the elite, and the best education. Screw Forbes. They don't give a rat's ass about the poor and oppressed. Rich and middle class people should be mixing and mingling with the poor to help bring up those communities. Lists like these just help to further segregate the poor from the rich, because the only peolpe who will move to counties like these to raise their kids are the rich. The poor will get poorer. We need rich people moving into the poor districts to help make them have better school systems.
I hate lists like these.
It's just another statistic and lumping together of the masses.
My
My family is from Geauga, Co OH and still resides there. Its a mix of farming, glacial lakes and reservoirs, three pretty large rivers that run through it (Cuyahoga,Grand, and the Chagrin). Gas wells are plentiful here as well as the second largest Amish population in the state and a vast amount of good hunting. Too bad they discovered it. It was a secret.
I live in Hamilton County,
I live in Hamilton County, IN. I like it very much but I'm surprised to see it #1 in the entire country.
http://federalfallacy.blo...
Maybe you just have gotten around to seeing...
How bad it is elsewhere.