The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a study by Zip Realty, a national, online real estate brokerage, found that no Bay Area city or area near Los Angeles made their top ten list of the best places for a family to live. However, one Orange County School District made the top ten.
According to Zip Realty, they analyzed “the highest-rated public school districts in 23 metros nationwide and the median price per square foot for real estate in that district.” To measure how accessible property was, the study examined districts in which 10 home sales had to have been completed in 2013. The ratings for schools were derived from measuring the “performance of each school district, including elementary, middle and high schools, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest,” which were based on test scores.
Following that, “Cross-referencing those School Scores with housing information such as per square foot sales prices gives consumers a window into the most affordable areas with the strongest local education systems.”
The top ten districts from #1 to #10 were:
Delano Public School District: Minneapolis
Fort Mill School District: Charlotte
Lovejoy Independent School District: Dallas
St. Charles C.U.S.D: Chicago
Harvard Public schools: Boston
Lake Oswego School District 7J: Portland
Nanuet Union Free School District: NYC/Westchester
Eanes Independent School District: Austin
Los Alamitos Unified School District: Orange County, CA
Mercer Island School District 400: Seattle
Bay Area cities and Los Angeles also failed to make the top ten list in Family Circle’s estimation of the 10 best towns for families. The top ten included, Apex, N.C.; Boerne, Texas; Brecksville, Ohio; Camas, Wash.; Elmhurst, Ill.; Franklin, Tenn.; Lake Mary, Fla.; Westborough, Mass.; Westfield, Ind.; and Woodbury, Minn.