Portland, Maine, Ranked One of America’s Best Cities to Raise a Family Again

Portland is once again being recognized as one of the best places to live. At this point, it’s hard not to think the quality of life here is pretty much unmatched — and for good reason.

Whether it’s the welcoming people, incredible food, endless outdoor recreation, thriving small businesses, or hilarious accents, there’s a lot to love about life in Portland. So, it should come as no surprise to see the city scored high on yet another list.

Is Portland, Maine, One of the Best Cities in America to Raise a Family?

WalletHub, the popular personal finance website, recently published its annual report of the best cities to raise a family—and surprise, surprise—Portland found itself near the top.

According to the report, Portland finished as the 30th best city in America to raise a family, which is pretty darn strong considering the rankings included 182 total cities. It was also the fourth-highest-ranked New England city, trailing only South Burlington (7th), Burlington (17th), and Warwick (27th).

The ranking was based on five major categories: Family Fun, Health & Safety, Affordability, Education & Child Care, and Socioeconomics. These categories were broken down into 45 subcategories to get the most accurate score possible.

Portland’s highest rankings came in Socioeconomics and Education & Child Care, where it finished 21st and 24th, respectively. Those are two categories you definitely want to score well in, considering how important they are to a healthy society.

Portland also cracked the Top 50 in Affordability (47th) and Health & Safety (50th). I’ll admit, I’m a little surprised Portland ranked so high in affordability. It really shows how expensive the rest of the country has become, considering Portland itself continues to get more expensive. As for Health & Safety, that ranking isn’t too surprising. Portland is typically very low in violent crime and other riffraff.

Honestly, Portland probably would have ranked much higher overall if it weren’t for its Family Fun score, where it somehow landed at a dreadful 162nd. This ranking makes zero sense. The city is packed with family-friendly activities. Between the excellent green spaces, beautiful coastline, bowling alleys, indoor mini golf, food truck parks, and countless yearly events, Portland feels pretty ideal for young families. Whoever made this ranking completely missed the mark there.

Overall, though, 30th is still a very solid ranking and clearly paints Portland as a strong place for young families and soon-to-be parents. So yeah, I dig it.

What New England Cities are the Best to Raise a Family In?

Here’s how the rest of the region performed in the report, including Lewiston:

7. South Burlington
17. Burlington
27. Warwick
32. Nashua
68. Lewiston (This is pretty darn good!)
79. Boston
86. Providence
88. Manchester
114. Worcester
146. New Haven
170. Bridgeport

Talk about some mixed results for the region. Also, if we finally kicked Connecticut out of New England like we should have years ago, the rankings wouldn’t look nearly as rough.

As for the best city in America to raise a family? That honor went to Fremont, California, followed by Overland Park, Kansas, and Irvine, California.

READ MORE: The Hottest Restaurants in Portland, Maine, Everyone’s Talking About

Coming in dead last was the fine city of Detroit. Well, at least the Pistons are playing better these days.

You can check out the full list here.