BusinessWeek's fourth annual survey of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids only confirmed what we've always known - Cheyenne is a great place to live and raise a family. BusinessWeek partnered with OnBoard Informatics, a provider of real estate analysis, to survey and chose a winner for each state. The survey concluded that, in Wyoming, Cheyenne is the best place to raise a family. For 2010, the second runner up was Casper.
From the survey,"Cheyenne, the state's capital and largest city, plays on its western roots, particularly with the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration, which includes one of the world's biggest outdoor rodeos. But it also has a symphony orchestra, theater companies, and a botanical garden."
They selected towns with at least 50,000 residents (Cheyenne population 54,872) and a median family income between $40,000 and $100,000 (Cheyenne $60,832). The list was then narrowed to towns using the following weighted criteria: school performance; number of schools; household expenditures; crime rates; air quality; job growth; family income; museums, parks, theaters, and other amenities; and diversity. For 2010, affordability, safety, and school test scores were given the greatest weight.While the median household income varies by state, they purposely weighted the results to prevent pricing out most people. That's why, towns like Greenwich, Conn., with good private schools, low crime, and abundance of cultural amenities, were left out. It just costs too much to live in those cities.
Onboard Informatics's data sources: Relative safety was measured by the "total crime risk," an index of the combined risks of rape, murder, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft. Crime scores were based on demographic and geographic analyses of crime over seven years. School performance was based on state reading and math test scores and came from Great Schools. Zoo data came from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and museum, theater, park, and recreation information came from InfoUSA. Air quality information came from the Environmental Protection Agency, household expenditures and diversity data were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, and job growth data came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We have family in Cheyenne and visit often. We would venture to say Wyoming is a great place to live, work, and raise a family!