Parkland Named Best City in the State for Families

Parkland has come out on top in a ranking of 115 cities for best city for families in Florida. As part of a Thanksgiving-week study — in which families gather together and then ponder whether they should just go ahead and move to the Sunshine State — the personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of the year's best and worst cities for Florida families. Florida, it turns out, is overtaking New York as the third most populous state, and so it was worth looking into, according to WalletHub's Diana Poppa.  

The website had experts look into 115 cities and applied a 21-key metric to find out which cities are the best and worst for families looking to settle in Florida. The metrics range from housing affordability to school-system quality and general affordability.

Overall, the categories that were looked into were Family Life & Fun, Education, Health & Safety, Affordability, and Socioeconomic Environment.

Parkland, and all its 13 square miles, ended up ranking number one. Weston is the next-highest-ranking city from Broward, at sixth. Miami, meanwhile, ranked next to last in the list. 

According to the metrics, Parkland ranks highest in the Socioeconomic Environment category — which means it has the lowest percentage of families living under the poverty level.

Of course, the median income for a household in Parkland is $177,072, according to 2008 estimates, while the estimated median house value is $873,176. Per-capita income for Parkland is $41,896.

Parkland also came out on top in the "lowest violent crime rate" category. Not bad for a city with a population of 28,131. According to WalletHub, Parkland also has the second lowest divorce rate in Florida.


Last year, WalletHub conducted a similar study that found Fort Lauderdale as the worst city for families in the entire country.

Back in January, New Times ranked all 30 cities in Broward County, albeit with a different methodology.

While Fort Lauderdale ended up ranking at number one, Parkland came in at 20 out of 30.

Here's what New Times said about Parkland:

20. Parkland

Pros: With reportedly only 0.85 violent crimes and 9.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents, it's the safest city in all of Florida!

Cons: It's crazy tiny! Thirteen square miles? No wonder it's got a low crime rate. Criminals don't even know it's there. Also, horses. Horses everywhere. So. Many. Damn. Horses.

Bottom line: TINY! HORSES!

Tiny city and many horses aside, Parkland is the city to move into for a family looking to move to Florida. At least according to people who use data and information.