New Report Dings Reston on Family Life

RESTON, VA — Reston typically enjoys high rankings in a number of quality of life categories, but the city has received middling marks in one category in a new report: WalletHub's best places to raise a family in Virginia in 2017.

Reston was 38th out of 82 Virginia cities ranked in the report from WalletHub, which based their rankings on the following criteria: family life and fun, such as playgrounds, attractions and good weather; education, health and safety, such as the quality of school systems, the air quality and the number of pediatricians in the area; affordability, such as the cost of housing and other essentials; and socioeconomics, such as the divorce rate, share of families living under the poverty level and the wealth gap. All four main criteria were weighted equally in the study.

Surprisingly, it was affordability where Reston ranked highest, coming in at 20th among the cities. It also came in at 23rd on socioeconomics. The city scored worst in family life and fun, coming in at 71st. Reston also came in 59th in education, health and safety.

Overall, Reston scored a 53.37 in the report, compared to 66.66 for Falls Church, which was No. 1 on the list. Petersburg was last on the list with a score of 23.42.

For more detail on the reports findings and methodology, click here.

Image via Flickr user Payton Chung