Cranston named to “50 Best Places to Live for Families” list by Fortune Magazine

It was Cranston’s Mayor Hopkins who sent out the good news – here is his statement:

“I am thrilled to announce Cranston has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 50 communities in the country for families to live in 2023.

Fortune Magazine evaluated nearly 1,900 cities, towns, suburbs, and villages across the country. As a finalist, Cranston scored highly across five broad categories of education, aging resources, general wellness, financial health, and livability.

Cranston ranked 38th in the country based on the city’s affordability, walkability, and other factors. Fortune Magazine also highlights Cranston as the best place to live for families in the state of Rhode Island.

Fortune Magazine noted, “Even before the pandemic, loneliness was commonplace, with its effects felt across roughly half the U.S. population, especially among young people and caregivers. It’s a strong predictor of poor physical and mental health outcomes and early mortality. Strong support systems are imperative.

The cities ranked in this year’s edition of the Fortune 50 Best Places to Live for Families share a range of qualities that can act as antidotes to loneliness. In our analysis of nearly 1,900 cities across the country, the best places to live scored high on assets like health care, education, and resources for seniors—all of which can help fight isolation and build social ties.

For the first time, this year’s list highlights the best place to live in each of the 50 states. While some states—whether owing to certain laws or their political climate—may not meet everyone’s needs, the list provides people a wide range of options across the U.S. from which they can find a place to call home.

Four measures were used and data points collected in:

• Education
• Aging resources
• General wellness
• Financial health
• Livability

This ranking focused on multigenerational families, many of whom are shouldering the responsibilities of raising their own children while caring for aging parents. With their needs in mind, Fortune paid particular attention to factors that met the unique challenges of this cohort—such as the quality of local public schools, graduation rates, nearby college affordability, the number of quality nursing homes, assisted living communities, home health care agencies, risk of social isolation among older residents, and access to solid health care providers. 

To ensure the winning places were cities and towns where residents could afford to buy homes  without breaking the bank, Fortune eliminated locales with home sale prices that were more than twice as high as the state median and/or more than 2.75 times higher than the national median. 

Additionally, Fortune wanted to highlight places that offered diverse neighborhoods. To that end, Fortune’s staff compared the racial breakdown of each place against state benchmarks, eliminating any place that was 75% less diverse than the state medians. Fortune also incorporated socioeconomic, religious, and ethnic diversity into its data collection process. 

Hopkins said, “Since taking office, I have made it a goal to continue improving our public spaces, like the new park in Knightsville, to meet the recreational and cultural needs of our population. This awarding is indicative of Cranston’s constant focus on tackling quality-of-life issues while encouraging community engagement across our great city.

It is an honor to be recognized as a model community where every resident can enjoy the great parks, restaurants, and other amenities that Cranston has to offer!

When a community like Cranston wins this type of accolade, it really reflects on all of our residents, our community organizations, and our local businesses – all of whom should be congratulated for contributing to this award!”

Data summary:

While Cranston holds the #1 designation of any community in all of Rhode Island, it ranked 38 out of the 50, with Cambridge, MA ranking #1 and Portsmouth, NH ranking #2.

You can view each community here: https://fortune.com/well/ranking/best-places-families/