Baltimore Is 2025’s 7th Worst City to Raise a Family – WalletHub Study
With inflation leading some families to move to cities with a low cost of living, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s Best & Worst Places to Raise a Family, as well as expert commentary.
To determine the most family-friendly places in America, WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 45 key metrics. The data set ranges from housing affordability to school-system quality to the unemployment rate.
Raising a Family in Baltimore (1=Best; 91=Avg.):
- Overall Rank: 176th
- 145th – % of Families with Young Kids
- 135th – Median Family Salary (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 146th – Housing Affordability
- 90th – Unemployment Rate
- 176th – % of Two-Parent Families
- 69th – Playgrounds per Capita
- 32nd – Number of Attractions
- 152nd – % of Families Living in Poverty
- 174th – Separation & Divorce Rate
- 173rd – Violent-Crime Rate per Capita
For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/
Key takeaways and WalletHub commentary are included below in text and video format.
“Finding the best place to raise a family is difficult, between balancing an affordable cost of living with good educational opportunities, safety and enough recreation to keep kids entertained. On top of all of these factors, people also often want to raise their children close to their extended family. Therefore, current or prospective parents can benefit from narrowing down their choices to a few of the best cities that are within a reasonable drive of their family.”
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“Fremont, CA, is the best place to raise a family in 2025, with one of the highest median family incomes and the third-lowest share of families living in poverty. Fremont is especially good when it comes to children’s education, with over 58% of public schools rated at least a 7 out of 10. In addition, Fremont is a good city for children’s health, as only 1.6% of children lack health insurance and only 1.1% of the population lacks access to healthy food.”
– Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst
Expert Commentary
What are the most important steps parents can take to help their children grow up healthy?
“Parents are the role models for their children so they must model good behaviors in terms of health and fitness, emotional regulation, discipline, and overall good habits (e.g., no smoking, excessive drinking, arguing, etc.). Another important consideration is sleep. Parents should ensure their children are getting adequate sleep and in an undisturbed space. People who are not sleeping adequate amounts – recommended hours vary by age so double check them – tend to have more unhealthy eating habits such as eating snack foods and consuming too many calories. Finally, people underestimate the impact of their relationships on health and well-being. Harmonious relationships help people live long and healthy whereas relationships characterized by conflict and tension do the opposite. It is important to model healthy relationships for children so that they learn how to effectively solve disagreements, express love, and dedicate time to be together as a family. Children have no choice about their family and so the parents have a big responsibility as head of the family and the ones who control the child’s environment to ensure it is safe, functional, and loving. This will set children up for life-long success. It is the foundation that will predict outcomes across all domains including work, peer relationships, and eventually their own family of procreation.”
Kelly Campbell – Ph.D. – Professor, California State University, San Bernardino
“The most important steps start from the time babies are born, by reading to children and engaging with them in supportive ways to build emotional relationships and encourage brain development, especially from ages 0-3. Providing nutritious food that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables and grains at an early age, encouraging physical activity by joining teams and clubs to connect youth to others, minimizing screen time and access to social media until age 13, and connecting their children to mentors and encouraging teens to volunteer and give back to their communities. It is also important for children to feel safe and protected and to be able to express their emotions in a safe place.”
Martine Hackett – Associate Professor, Hofstra University
To what degree is a child’s development and a family’s quality of life influenced by the city in which they live? How?
“Certainly, a child’s development and a family’s quality of life are impacted by the city they live in. Practically speaking, our country comprises a wide array of regions that all have distinct climates, customs and cultures. These factors shape how and where people work, play, learn and practice their faith. Our society is more mobile and transient than ever and we’re seeing cities across the south and west experience population growth, so people seem to be attracted to these places for any number of reasons including the weather, job opportunities, and perhaps more favorable tax policy. To the extent that people are moving to these places based on their perceived fit with their priorities, it is likely that they are doing well and are contributing positively to the pool of available revenue which in turn is translated into local services impacting the social determinants of health. As a result, these cities would experience an increase in their capacity to offer families the infrastructure and resources to affect child development.”
Armon R. Perry, Ph.D., MSW – Professor; BSW Program Director, University of Louisville
“We all somehow know that where a child grows up matters for their development. It turns out that this is true for several reasons: the school district in the city where you live can have a dramatic impact on the quality of the education your child receives, the availability of parks and green space supports connections to nature that has positive influences on air quality and physical activity and stress; the social connections and sense of community are important for families to not feel isolated and provides strong social ties that benefit children through their development; transportation options also help families as they grow, and the availability of services a child with special needs may require differs by the place where you live.”
Martine Hackett – Associate Professor, Hofstra University
How can local officials make their cities more attractive to young families?
“Young families are interesting because many of them vacillate between two worlds. In other words, for many young parents, they are starting to pay closer attention to things like school systems and recreational amenities for their small children while they simultaneously desire vibrant entertainment districts where young professionals tend to gather to connect and network. For these reasons, local officials should be concerned with finding ways to balance these interests.”
Armon R. Perry, Ph.D., MSW – Professor; BSW Program Director, University of Louisville
“One way would be to provide resources for families where both parents work. This could mean before and afterschool programs that are educational and fun and safe that can support young children and accommodate parent’s work schedules. Cities can also provide opportunities for teenagers to find jobs where they can learn skills and earn money and cities can also support families with free activities to foster a sense of community and learning.”
Martine Hackett – Associate Professor, Hofstra University