Where Are West Michigan’s ‘Best Places to Raise a Family’?

A handful of West Michigan communities are considered some of the state’s “best” for families.

The 2019 “Best Places to Raise a Family in Michigan” ranking by WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranks Holland at No. 7, East Grand Rapids at No. 8 and Forest Hills at No. 9.

WalletHub compared 102 cities in Michigan across four key dimensions: family life and fun; education, health and safety; affordability; and socioeconomics. Dimensions were weighed using 21 metrics, including number of attractions, quality of school system, housing affordability, wealth gap and more. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 indicating the most suitable conditions for family life.

Holland received a 63.90 and ranks No. 2 for family life and fun, No. 24 for education, health and safety, No. 33 for affordability and No. 16 for socioeconomics.

East Grand Rapids scored 63.83 and ranks No. 34 for family life and fun, No. 23 for education, health and safety, No. 13 for affordability and No. 2 for socioeconomics.

Forest Hills received a score of 63.56 and ranks No. 55 for family life and fun, No. 17 for education, health and safety, No. 14 for affordability and No. 1 for socioeconomics.

Grand Rapids ranks No. 67 overall.

Several other West Michigan communities appear in the ranking, such as Portage at No. 14, Jenison at No. 18, Allendale at No. 19, Grand Haven at No. 32 and others.

Top 10 statewide

1.   Rochester, 70.75
2.   South Lyon, 70.35
3.   Beverly Hills, 69.29
4.   Troy, 66.49
5.   Novi, 64.49
6.   Berkley, 64.33
7.   Holland, 63.90
8.   East Grand Rapids, 63.83
9.   Forest Hills, 63.56
10. Midland, 61.47

Bottom 10 statewide

1.   Highland Park, 19.36
2.   Detroit, 28.38
3.   Inkster, 29.09
4.   Muskegon Heights, 31.75
5.   Wayne, 33.57
6.   Flint, 33.88
7.   Hamtramck, 34.59
8.   Pontiac, 36.84
9.   Saginaw, 37.50
10. Taylor, 38.39

Photo of downtown Holland via fb.com