Strollerderby

As a former Seattle resident I so miss my city and think it's a great place to raise a child, but there is a real benefit to being able to take a child to the playground and let them run around in the sun every weekend here in Los Angeles.

We moved to Portland from NY last summer...what a great move.  Having lived in Amherst, MA, Denver, CO and San Fran, I know there's no place other than P-town I'd like to raise my two (soon to be 3 in a few weeks) boys.

We are in walking distance of two parks, and can easily drive to another half-dozen in about 10 minutes.  There are vegetarian options (beyond pasta) at almost every restaurant.  Hell, besides having "Portland Composts" stickers on the doors of the restaurants, we also see "Breastfeeding Welcome" stickers.

Of course, there is a downside to all this hippy-dippy-ness.   My god!  You talk to some of these parents, and it's like they are the only ones in the world to ever have a kid.  Seriously, do you think Junior is going to grow-up to be homeless if he doesn't get into that Montessori pre-school?  I have been involved in animated discussions about "free play."  For real--there is a debate going on in Portland about letting kids play by themselves.  And god forbid anyone finds out my kids play video games...I think I'll be banned from the city!

But if you can avoid the self-righteous parent-contingent, it's a wonderful (and more affordable than NY) place to live.

Baltimore is ranked 21.  With one of the world's best hospitals in town (Johns Hopkins) there is plenty of access to high risk doctors and tons of pediatricians.  The city has excellent water and fairly good air quality, in comparison to other cities.  However, only 64% of new moms try breastfeeding, maternal death rates are higher than average, prematurity and low birthweights are a problem (but I do wonder if that's due to the access to excellent NICU's and fertility centers) and the crime is horrendous.

SF here!  There are a lot of children in San Francisco, uber healthy foods, baby boutiques, organic clothing and a lot of baby/kid friendly places to go.

The traffic is crazy though and most houses don't have yards but there are plenty of parks.

I have a friend who lives in Portland, and she's really put me off of it - she says she feels very uncomfortable in the city because it's "so white" - is racial integration something the study looks at? Because that can make a huge difference to a child - of any color.

Why does Miami have to be the only Florida city? It's a sh*t hole. Even Orlando has to be a little better.

Miami has it's problems but Orlando is a wasteland. Landlocked, sprawling and home to mega theme parks, Orlando is the kind of place that sucks the life out of people. Take it from a born-and-raised Floridian.

Those of us from Detroit are used to being last on any list.  Some ignore it and some have come to take it as a point of pride.  

That said, I'm glad to be raising my kids in Philadelphia.

We're in Denver, and we find it child-friendly and healthy! Living downtown, we have two big playgrounds and parks within walking distance, lots of child-friendly restaurant options, and world-class museums at our doorstep. The DAM (Denver Art Museum) is easily the most kid-friendly museum I've ever been to, and I've been all over the US and Europe. We absolutely love it here. To top it all off, we walk almost everywhere, because Denver has more sunny days than San Diego, and it's been in the 60s over the last couple of weeks. And I haven't even mentioned the skiing!

... The "Nation's Best Parks and Recreation program" kind of, well, sort of, makes up for dodging bullets in Long Beach. At least my kids will be street smart!

Austin here. I love it here, always something to do with the kiddies