A Family Affair
Northern Dallas suburb takes another U.S. title for family friendliness
Back in May 2014, Livability.com determined that Plano was one of the best cities for kids in the United States. A year later, Plano can add another accolade to the list: The same website has deemed the northern suburb the second-best city in America for families.
That may sound like the same thing, but there's a subtle difference. The first list focused on just six factors; the new list disregarded things like restaurants with kids' menus and replaced them with factors like percentage of children in poverty, graduation rate and commute times.
Livability praised Plano for its plentiful parks and recreation areas; its strong school system, which consistently yields high graduation rates; and diverse population.
It all added up to Plano's landing at No. 2 out of 10, right behind Overland Park, Kansas. The Kansas city also ranked ahead of Plano on the first list, so they must be doing something right up there. The rest of the top five consisted of Holland, Michigan; Carmel, Indiana; and Leesburg, Virginia.
It's going to take some doing to knock Plano off its high pedestal, as it's ranked high on lists for finding a job and avoiding crime. The rest of the country seems to agree, as companies like Toyota and Liberty Mutual are moving there all the time.
