I recently got an email from Apartment List about a compilation they did on the best cities to raise a family. Spoiler alert: DC is nowhere near the top. You can read the whole post here and also use their tool to find out where over 460 cities across the United States ranked on their list. (Thanks, Apartment List!)
Although I am not here to sling any mud on Apartment List’s top five cities –and really, I cannot, as I have never raised a family in any of these cities– my feeling is that their methodology, which looks at safety, housing cost, school quality and child friendliness, is de facto stacked against cities. Yes, there is quite a bit of crime around the Hill on occasion and housing is… well okay. Apartment List has a point. However, have you read my post about raising kids on the Hill? (warning: tearjerkerish)
And did you catch Claudia’s follow-up on growing up on the Hill? (warning: also tearjerkerish)
Clearly, there is one metric missing here: awesomeness of the neighborhood. In that category, Capitol Hill ranks as number one.
*but they clearly didn’t ask for my input.