According to CNN, here are the 25 best cities for kids to live in:

1. Portland, Oregon A+
2. Seattle, Washington A+
3. Minneapolis, Minnesota A
4. New York, New York A
5. San Francisco, California A-
6. Boston, Massachusetts A-
7. Denver, Colorado A-

Good work! These cities got a B
8. Fort Worth, Texas B+
9. Houston, Texas B+
10. San Diego, California B+
11. San Jose, California B
12. Dallas, Texas B
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania B
14. Saint Louis, Missouri B
15. Cleveland, Ohio B
16. Chicago, Illinois B
17. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania B

Try harder! These cities got a C
18. Phoenix, Arizona C+
19. Los Angeles, California C
20. Miami, Florida C
21. Tampa, Florida C
22. Washington, D.C. C
23. Baltimore, Maryland C-
24. Detroit, Michigan C-
25. Atlanta, Georgia C-

Examining data for the 25 largest U.S. cities, as well as 140 smaller cities, and 74 suburban areas, Population Connection used seven categories to come up with its rankings. These included education, health, community life, economics, environment, population change, and public safety. According to The Washington Post, Portland got the top nod for its good schools, lots of jobs, excellent health care system, clean air, safe streets, and good public transportation.

Wow! I would never have thought that Philadelphia and Detroit were fit places for adults to live in, let alone children.

I hope you have an asbestos suit fjohn...

Actually they rate the cities on things like health care, those cities probably have good hospitals and excellent teaching hospitals, and other factors that people from other places don't realize.
I lived outside Philly for longer than I've lived anywhere..and I think that there were a great number of things in the outlying areas and in the city to do.

San Francisco seems so incredibly expensive that I wonder who could afford to have more than one kid? My cousin isn't having but one.
It's my favorite city, for sentimental reasons, but not an easy place. It does have excellent parks and cultural things.

I live 25 miles west of Philadelphia but go there often. I think you'd be impressed with Philadelphia, it's come a long way in the last 10-15 years. A major clean up took place and the difference is amazing. Theaters, museums and historical sites are plentiful and centrally located.

And where else can you enjoy cheese steaks, hoagies and TastyKakes?

In reply to:

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where else can you enjoy cheese steaks, hoagies and TastyKakes

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But what are they? Especially the hoagies one?

Valois if you're stopping by, there's a nice thread up in the commons where we're explaining local favorites! Otherwise Copago is going to think that Philly is a wild town!


Good thing I've eaten already, my co worker and I have been trying to get to the American bar thing here to have a cheese steak for a year and never make it. You'd have made me so hungry for one of those, though the best is in Swarthmore PA, the main drag there.

A cheese steak was made in heaven. It consists of a foot-long roll, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Then shaved roast beef is fried with onions and, when almost finished, cheese is added so it just about melts. This is scooped into the sliced roll.

There are so many kinds of hoagies...so I'll describe the 'generic' hoagie. You take the same roll mentioned above, slice it, and line it with sliced tomatoes and lettuce and raw onions. Then you pile in your favorite thinly sliced meats and cheeses, salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil.

TasyKakes are so popular, they've opened up an international mailing service. They can be purchased just about anywhere in Philadelphia or suburbs. They are individual serving cakes and pies. For example, moist yellow cake topped with thick butterscotch icing; moist chocolate cake topped with buttercream icing, yellow cake and oeanut butter encased in milk chocolate, a pie filled with coconut custard,etc. It used to be a joke in this area that parents would purchase large amounts of TastyKakes and mail them to their sons and daughters away at college.

It's like everything else; those of us in the Philadelphia area grew up with these items, and tend to take them for granted. Other areas have tried to duplicate them, but there's nothing like the real thing. There are stores around that just sell made to order hoagies and cheese steaks.

I've made myself hungry.

The hoagie is generally called a hero sandwich (or Italian hero) or a submarine sandwich in NY. Same basic sandwich, just a different name.

I'm a little surprised that NYC ranks so highly as a place to raise kids. What is generally heard on the news are only the negative comments about the school system. But as far as diversity and culture and excitement go, you can't beat NYC.

But we can't do a really good Philly cheese steak sandwich around here--just a second-rate imitation.
On the other hand, we have the best pastrami sandwiches in the world. And each sandwich is large enough to feed a small family.:)

THe cheesesteaks in the aforementioned Swarthmore place would have those little peppers if you asked for them...oh my they were good.
As to kids in Philadelphia, the museum has always had free programs on Sunday mornings. I took my little ones there often, admission is free before a certain time I think. They have discovery type things, crafts, stories and you name it!
Any holiday, they try to have a theme. It's one of the most approachable museums I know.
The Children's museum is also excellent but they charge the adults a pretty high price. However the ability to get into clothing and different environments is worth it. They have a great science museum too.
The Zoo is well run too.
I'm starting to miss it as sniff sniff, my boy was born there.
The markets are about the best I've ever seen too!