Being on the East Coast but with a hubby from the Midwest, I will agree that Midwest does seem best. However, I think the better question is: are there any good paying jobs in those areas and really, who can afford to move right now if they're homeowners since the housing market is so stagnant currently? With so many top places being in Wisconsin & Michigan, I'd also have to add the question, who is willing to endure those harsh winters for a "better" place to live?! LOL!

abbygray, being a displaced Midwesterner living in Texas? I dream of once again enduring the harsh winters! :o) But yes, I agree - between the job and housing markets it's very difficult for most folks to just pack up and move a family these days.

All in all, I think it just depends on your own personal criteria, cost of living (it costs a LOT more to live in the midwest if you don't actually have a job!), how close extended family is, if you're looking for an urban, suburban, or rural experience, etc.

And besides that - as a person who sometimes feels displaced (my family is all in affordable, beautiful Utah) I still believe you have to try your best to love where you are. Yes, it's more expensive to live here in San Diego. No, I can't bike the grocery store (wish I could!). But we're following my husband's dream, he and my kids are here, and we've made great friends. Getting to know our neighbors and building our own community has made ALL the difference for us in making a "great" place to live.

Oh yeah...and yes, we live in San Diego, one of the most beautiful places in the world. But I sometimes forget that!! That's not really fair, is it?

Pros and cons to every place!

aww, why didn't MN make the bill?

As I've always said, I wouldn't want to raise a family any place that's "a great place to raise a family."

I'm not intimately familiar with everywhere on this list, but I'm thinking most wouldn't fit my criteria: loads of diversity of every sort, active LGBT community and resources, tons of visible LGBT and multiracial families, ample resources for people with disabilities, easy to live there without a car, progressive Jewish community...

Yes, I agree with EEKA - I don't get these BEST lists. It always depends on the "BEST" definition that the editors decide to choose...

What was their criteria?

According to the post above, the criteria were "low costs, high home ownership, short commutes, solid incomes and education prospects."

Having grown up in Wisconsin and Michigan, I'm shocked that five cities made the list. There's a lot of reasons why this Midwesterner fled from Wisconsin to the East Coast and can't imagine ever going back. Manitowoc...shudder.

I agree reddirtmama - I grew up in Iowa (yay #1!) and now live in LA. I'm always so excited to go home for Christmas and enjoy the -40 for a week! Of course its nice to know it only lasts a week then I'm back to mild 70s :)

I've always thought when it comes to raising a family I would move back though. Until then I do enjoy to be surrounded by a little more action that comes with the "big city".

Short commute is only relevant if you actually have a job. Not everybody (or very many people, even) can get a job in those places. Also agree with eeka. I could save some money if I were willing to commute an hour each way and raise my kids where everyone looks the same. Plus gotta stick close to other progressive Jews.

Marquette? Seriously? I haven't read Forbes' article, but my best friend is from there and it seems everyone is snowbound for six months a year.

What are the best small WARM cities in which to raise a family?

eeka - Sounds like you need to visit Ann Arbor, MI. :)

Eeka- or Ithaca, NY

The list made me laugh...as a lifelong midwesterner, I'm familiar with a number of those...not sure I'd want to live there. When the headline said "best small cities," I wasn't thinking they'd be THAT small!

I'd love to see their medium-sized list. Ann Arbor, MI and Fort Wayne, IN are nice places to grow up, for example.

From the Forbes article:

These places boast solid average incomes, good educational prospects, low costs, short commute times and high rates of home ownership . . .

. . . and populations as white as driven salt.

Auburn, N.Y., a tiny Finger Lakes town probably best known for its correctional facility, takes the top spot for the Northeast region, and comes in at No. 18 in the nation. Prison jobs boost the local income, which ranks 20th among small cities at $48,991.

Oh, I'm packing my bags right now.

I just don't see how a town can be considered "family friendly" if it gives the parents of the family the yips. Maybe they're using the term "family" the same way they Family Research Council uses it: they mean these towns support sexophobia and small-mindedness.

I grew up in Michigan, lived in Arizona for a few years, and now find myself west of Seattle...it's okay here but not my definition of family-friendly. I loved AZ because of the ease of mobility the highway system offered...but I might consider moving back to the midwest if it proves family friendly. However, with this economy, and the (lack of) jobs...?! Who cares about a Forbes list?! It doesn't change the fact that most people are stuck where they are for now.

Anyway, why don't I see more family friendly cities in more family-friendly climates? Snow is NOT your friend if it stays longer than three months. lol ;-)

Molly NYC -- While I appreciate the sentiment (really, I do) I think it is a total misconception that these small midwest towns are xenophobic. I grew up on the East coast, have lived in Philly, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and London and I am now settled in Ames, Iowa. It is a small town that often gets on these "Best" lists. Really, it is a fairly diverse place because people come from all over the world to study or teach at the university here. In just one of our elementary schools there are 58 countries of origin represented in the student body. And it is fairly progressive. I mean, it's Iowa afterall. We pretty much elected Obama and we were one of the first to have same sex marriage. Yes, when I was single I loved living in big cities and going out every night and not saving a cent, but now that I have a kid it just makes life so much easier to be in a small community where everything just comes really easily, you can bike to work (when there isn't a blizzard of course) and people are super nice. I think that is what these lists are getting at.

I'm sorry. . . but as a born and bread Californian for 5 generations (my husband's family has lived in the SAME town for 4 generations). . . I don't plan on leaving this coast any time soon.

Gotta agree with Eeka - I'd wait to see a list that includes high diversity and progressiveness on the same list of criteria as jobs and house-ownership. (And frankly, I'm a little cynical about the over emphasis in our culture on house ownership!)

I grew up in the Bible Belt. It was a lovely place environmentally, but I don't think I'd really want to put my kids through the same cultural wringer. Especially since they're going to be "mixed" as people call it. Puberty is tough enough to deal with without all that other baggage.

And what about the non-white people? Where should we raise our families? Iowa... good lord.

I've lived in Texas my whole life and dont ever see myself moving. A really nice "small town" around Houston is The Woodlands. I loved living there and hopefully will get the chance to move back one day.

jesscal -- If you say Ames is nice, I believe it. Forbes, not so much.

These maybe nice places once youhavea kid or two, and have some family nearby, but there is much more than that to quality of life.

Someone mentioned Ames Iowa. I've been there a number of times (visiting and working at Iowa State). Ames and diversity (by almost any metric) are two words that don't go together. A close friend, who worked at IAstate, told me of dating stories. Not good. I'm sure that many places/people have their horror stories. But to list these small, homogeneous places as idyllic venues for raising a family is naive at best. For anyone to take it seriously is simply foolish.

Live near your family if you can. (two people raising kids ISA nightmare unless neither want to do anything other than baby sit kids.)
Live in a place that facilitates your happiness.

Eeka-I agree with chimpa 64. Ithaca, NY is a small, "artsy", progressive city. It is a classic college town surrounded by natural beauty. It is on a large lake and has lots of hiking trails. It is very family-friendly with always an array of things to do. My family and I visit there often.

High levels of home ownership can equal lots of people who've never lived anywhere else, and also a population skewed too far toward the upper classes. I want my kids to know people who live in the projects, and people whose families move every few years because they're professors or international business people or just because they're being raised by someone who's a little nutty and packs up and moves at the least provocation.

Ithaca is 79% white. Couldn't do it. Seems nice otherwise.

I agree with Eeka and the like. I have a multiracial family and I actually do separate searches...sad, but we got a long way to go.