These cities are packed with parks! Did your city make the list?
The Best Cities to Live In for Families
Updated on Jan. 31, 2024
What Makes a City Family Friendly?
Family-friendly means different things to different people: Great schools, safe streets, kid-centric activities and perhaps most of all, places where kids can play.
Access to parks boosts physical and mental health, helps the environment by providing green spaces for trees and wildlife and boosts community engagement, according to the Trust for Public Land.
Each year, the digital real estate company Opendoor releases a report on family-friendly cities. This year, it focused on parks. “[T]his year’s list reflects families’ desire for community, simpler living and an opportunity to build a network of like-minded families in the great outdoors,” says Opendoor broker Jennifer Patchen.
Opendoor scoured data from OpenStreetMap to compile this year’s list. “For readers with families craving more outdoor access, these cities offer family-oriented programming and invest in outdoor spaces to promote a healthy way of living,” Patchen says. “Many of these areas provide access to major cities while still maintaining a more suburban-feel.”
Did your city make the list? Let’s find out:
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Somerville, Massachusetts
If your family loves to be outside, it’s hard to beat Somerville. This densely-populated suburb of Boston boasts a whopping 60 parks within its four square miles, and every one of Somerville’s 80,000+ residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.
Somerville’s walkable layout, featuring neighborhood squares instead of a central downtown business district, adds to its charm.
For families looking for more rugged endeavors, Middlesex Falls, a state park just a few miles north of Somerville, offers biking, hiking, boating and an off-leash dog park (dogs are family, too!). Really impress your kids with an everything-is-awesome adventure at Legoland Discovery Center Boston, in the Assembly Row shopping area along the Mystic River.
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Berkeley, California
Home to the oldest campus in the University of California system, Berkeley, on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, is a family-friendly town with great schools and stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.
Ninety-five percent of Berkeley’s roughly 120,000 people live within a 10-minute walk of a park, and there are kid-friendly activities everywhere you look.
The Lawrence Hall of Science offers hands-on science exhibits and exploration, including a planetarium, paper airplane experiments and an outdoor nature lab. Indian Rock Park beckons rock climbers and bouldering enthusiasts of all ages. And check out the annual International Kite Festival every July at Cesar Chavez Park.
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Cliffside Park, New Jersey
This borough just across the Hudson River from New York City features nationally ranked schools, plenty of parks and an easy (well, easy enough) commute into midtown Manhattan. When the work day’s over, bring the kids to zoos, museums, sporting events, theater and thousands of other family-friendly offerings in New York City.
For park lovers, 77% of Cliffside Park’s 25,000+ residents and 80% of its children live within a 10 minute walk of a park, and Palisades Interstate Park is just a short drive north. This 12-mile-long National Historic Landmark is packed with stunning views, hiking and biking trails, fishing and picnic spots, and nature programs.
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Arlington, Virginia
Learn something new every day: Arlington, Virginia, home of The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, isn’t a city at all — it’s a county. That didn’t keep it from making the list, though!
Across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., Arlington unsurprisingly includes a heavy concentration of federal employees and their families, while hosting a huge number of support sector jobs in technology and service industries. Unemployment rates in Arlington are consistently some of the lowest in the country.
The area is also known for its beautiful parks and family-friendly museums. Arlington has more than 100 miles of paved bike trails. Take the whole family out to see the cherry blossoms, then stop at Upton Hill to play in the large “splash ground” water park.
Over in Washington, multiple kid-friendly options include the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the National Children’s Museum.
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Watauga, Texas
If you’re looking for small-town feel close to major city amenities, look no farther than Watauga, Texas. This northeast Fort Worth suburb of 23,000 people nestles in the Mid-Cities, the stretch of suburbs between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Nearly 80% of Watauga’s residents can walk to a park. Getting around by car is easy thanks to the town’s proximity to Dallas-Fort Worth’s massive highway system.
Springtime brings the kid-friendly Watauga Fest, one of the largest festivals in the Mid-Cities. It brings live entertainment, carnival rides and food trucks to Watauga’s Capp Smith Park, a 37-acre space with trails, catch-and-release fishing and an amphitheater. If big rides are more your thing, Six Flags Over Texas is only 20 minutes away.
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Chandler, Arizona
If larger suburbs are for you, Chandler, part of the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan statistical area, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation with 280,000 residents. Chandler boasts 83 parks and rates highly on the Trust for Public Land’s Park Equity scoring system; Black and Latino residents have as much or more access to parks as their white neighbors.
Do your kids love trains? The Arizona Railway Museum is in Chandler, featuring walk-through trains and tons of other train memorabilia.
The local Ostrich Festival celebrates Chandler’s history of in-town ostrich-raising (yes, really). And Chandler is home to one of the five Crayola Experiences in the U.S. Kids can make and wrap their own crayons, create wax sculptures and play and explore in the 20,000-square-foot, hands-on facility.
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Denver, Colorado
The Rocky Mountains may be known for snow, but Denver receives 300 days of sunshine a year. So get outside! Denver offers 325 parks, and 92% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of one.
Denver ranks high on dog park and splash pad density, too, so everyone in the family can enjoy the outdoors. And of course, there’s skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking and just about every other winter and summer activity you can imagine.
To feed your brain as well as your body, there’s the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Downtown Aquarium, the Denver Zoo and the Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus. And for a special treat, take the kids to Confluence Park, where the South Platte River and Cherry Creek meet, to watch kayakers brave the rapids.
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Portland, Oregon
Like Denver, Portland has more than 300 parks. The second-largest city in Oregon dedicates an incredible 18% of its area to parkland.
Known for its many bridges over the Willamette River, Portland also has a famously vibrant music scene and many outdoor festivals. If your family loves green space and the outdoors, Portland’s for you.
Kids will love the Portland Children’s Museum and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where they can explore the planetarium, experience a simulated earthquake and learn about science of all stripes.
Oaks Park, known as the Coney Island of the Northwest, is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country. It opened in 1905 to commemorate the centennial of Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition.
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Valley Stream, New York
This village in Nassau County on Long Island, east of New York City, sits within the town of Hempstead. While it only has six parks within its 3.5 square miles, 86% of Valley Stream’s 40,000+ residents can access them on foot.
For commuters, the Long Island Railroad services Valley Stream, and multiple bus routes and highways offer options into New York City. Families have hundreds of museums, beaches, playgrounds and other activities to choose from in every direction.
Hempstead Lake State Park features the largest freshwater lake in Nassau County, with picnic tables, hiking and biking trails, fishing spots, tennis courts and horseback riding. In the winter, ride snowmobiles, ice fish and cross-country ski.
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Garden Grove, California
This Orange County city rounds out Opendoor’s Top 10. It’s just south of Anaheim, so you know what that means: Disneyland!
If you’re all Mickey-ed out, head over to Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood or Legoland. It’s a family-friendly paradise. If beaches are more your thing, well, you’re in Los Angeles. Just head west.
Garden Grove is also home to the annual Strawberry Festival, featuring parades, rides, live entertainment, and of course, strawberries. Enter your littlest offspring in the “Berry, Berry Beautiful” baby contest, or get the whole ginger family involved in the “Red Headed Round Up.”
Whatever outdoor activity your family enjoys, the Southern California weather rarely disappoints.
