Income

America's Worst City for Families

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: February 16, 2025 2:50 pm

Last Updated: February 17, 2025 7:05 am

The size of the American family has plunged. In 1900, there were 4.76 people per household. In 2020, it was 2.53. That means fewer families with children. Even so, in an age when there are more options for where children go to school and metro affordability, some cities are considered much better for families than others.

LendingTree recently reviewed the top 50 metros by population. The primary metrics for finding the best and worst cities for families came from the U.S. Census Bureau 2023 American Community Survey. Among these items were median income for families with children, percentage of children living in owner-occupied homes, percentage of children living below the poverty line, childcare expenses, and commute times. The study could not say which of these items mattered to families. It is an entirely data-driven evaluation.

Miami was the bottom city on the list, rated 23.4 on a scale of 1 to 100. By contrast, Salt Lake City was the top city, with a score of 75.4.

Miami did well on one metric: the median income for households with families, which was $84,550. However, its average commute time was high, at 59 minutes. The monthly childcare cost for infants to those who are four years old was very high.

The study does not show that Miami has become harder for almost all its residents to live in. Summer temperatures can be above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity is extremely high. The city faces more frequent and powerful hurricanes because climate change has driven up temperatures in the Atlantic. The threat of storms has caused home insurance prices to skyrocket, which means they eat into household income.

In These Cities, Category 3 Hurricanes Are Annual Occurrences