50 Best CA Communities For Young Families: Study

California has it all: beaches, mountains, deserts and cities. All of which provide provide an amazing backdrop for living. However, not all of these locations are created equal when it comes to affordability — especially for young families.

The personal-finance website NerdWallet recently examined a total of 334 locations across California to compile a list of the best places for this demographic here in the Golden State. They looked at cities, towns and census-designated places.

The organization looked for locales with more than 20,000 residents "that offer the best combination of affordability (based on local incomes, housing and other costs), quality schools, future growth and prosperity, and family-friendliness." In the end, the top locations were mostly clustered in five metro areas: San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire. (Click here for more on the methodology and data.)

Small suburbs in California scored many of the top spots on the final list of the Best Places for Young Families in California. In fact, of the top 10 places, eight of them have fewer than 75,000 residents. However, just because these locations may be on the smaller side, don't let that fool you into thinking they are cheap.

"The top places tend to be on the pricier side," NerdWallet said of the results. "Eight of the top 10 places have median home values that are more than the median in the analysis. But the most expensive places don’t score well in the overall analysis: Of the cities with the highest home values, none ranks higher than 103rd out of 334 places."

According to NerdWallet, The top 50 California places for young families are:

1. San Ramon
2. Cupertino
3. Folsom
4. Beaumont
5. Rancho Santa Margarita
6. El Dorado Hills
7. Fremont
8. Aliso Viejo
9. Dublin
10. Temecula
11. Elk Grove
12. Davis
13. Rocklin
14. Vineyard
15. Pleasanton
16. American Canyon
17. Cypress
18. Yorba Linda
19. Brentwood
20. Poway
21. Chino Hills
22. Arvin
23. Sanger
24. Loma Linda
25. Roseville
26. Brea
27. Santee
28. Murrieta
29. Norco
30. Granite Bay
31. Clovis
32. Galt
33. Cerritos
34. Corona
35. Irvine
36. Tracy
37. Lake Forest
38. Oakley
39. Walnut
40. Orangevale
41. Valinda
42. Danville
43. Mission Viejo
44. Sunnyvale
45. Hanford
46. Temple City
47. Encinitas
48. Orcutt
49. Milpitas
50. Soledad

Click here for the full rankings of the best areas for young families in California.

— Reported By Patch Editor Renee Schiavone / Image via Pixabay