Austin Tops Best Cities For Young Families List

AUSTIN, TX -- New analysis labeling Austin as the best municipality in the country for young families yields a tale of two cities: Praise heaped for household spending and schools but bad marks for an increased cost of living and average commute for motorists.

New York City-based ValuePenguin offers this mixed bag of factors in its annual rating. Still, Austin was tops in the nation among best cities for young families despite the rough calculus.

The city comes in sixth place for its residents proportionate spending on mortgage payments; 11th overall for the quality of its schools; and 13th in terms of its economic strength.

But -- as any driving Austinite can attest -- its average commute ranking was logged in at 130th among the various cities measured. The average commute was clocked at nearly 27 minutes.

Cost of living also was a less desirable dynamic. The city was 110th in the country in terms of that metric.

To read ValuePenguin’s full report, click here.

The analysis comes on the heels of the annual forecast of the local economy given by local analyst Angelos Angelou. The economist partially addressed some of the growth-fueled challenges cited in the ValuePenguin study during his well-attended address at the Long Center last week.

In his forecast, the head of Angelou Economics cited the lack of affordable housing as a major challenge facing the city: “We have over 180,000 units of affordable housing that need to be built, but we’re nowhere near that level of construction,” Angelou said, quoted as part of KVUE-TV news coverage.

“That problem can be alleviated over the long haul with good public policy that incentivizes developers to build lower price homes.”

Traffic woes, however, show no signs of letting up. Angelou predicted traffic will likely worsen given the annual influx of thousands of residents relocating from elsewhere in the country, adding some 25,000 cars annually to local roadways.