Hometown Shame
It stinks to be a single mom in Dallas according to this study
Well, this is disheartening, especially if you’re a woman tackling child-rearing alone. List-loving finance site WalletHub recently determined the best and worst cities for single moms, and Dallas and Fort Worth fall in the bottom 20.
Dallas ranks a miserable No. 133 out of 150; Fort Worth fares worse, at No. 138. But neither is as bad for single mothers as Laredo, which ranks No. 144.
But here is a bright spot for North Texas: Plano takes the No. 11 spot. It’s official! There’s nothing at which Plano can’t excel.
For these rankings, data analysts compared the 150 most populated U.S. cities across two key dimensions: single moms’ economic and social well-being, and child-friendly environment. The former includes metrics such as number of single mothers and their median annual income, babysitter costs, and housing affordability. The latter includes access to adequate childcare, as well as outdoor fun and access to parks.
For moms’ economic and social well-being, Dallas comes in at No. 127. Its child-friendly environment lands at No. 103. Fort Worth ranks Nos. 121 and 125, respectively, in those categories.
Compare that to Plano, which ranks No. 5 for moms’ economic and social well-being and No. 85 for child-friendly environment. (The first is weighted much more heavily in the overall rankings.)
Plano does well for individual metrics such as annual income (No. 4 of out 150), housing affordability (No. 5), and lowest percentage of moms with underaged children in poverty (No. 5).
Austin is the second-best city in Texas for single mothers, with a No. 40 overall ranking. The next best is Lubbock, at No. 60.
Where are single moms living large? In Scottsdale, Arizona; Madison, Wisconsin; and Fremont, California. San Bernardino, California, ranks dead last.
