Red Oak among top 50 Iowa towns to raise a family

Five southwest Iowa cities have been ranked in the top 50 towns to raise a family in, according to Niche’s 2015 rankings. 

Niche, a website that reviews cities, states, colleges and other schools, releases annual rankings for various subjects. This year, one of the rankings is the “best towns to raise a family in” for each state. For southwest Iowa, Red Oak, Glenwood, Shenandoah, Council Bluffs and Clarinda all made the top 50. 

To get the rankings, Niche grades the cities on several different areas such as age demographics, school ratings, crime rates and access to certain services. According to the website, “a high ranking indicates a town attracts young families with good schools and safe communities.”

The factors considered were crime and safety, which were weighted 20 percent, education, weighted 20 percent, access to libraries, weighted 10 percent, community, weighted 10 percent, housing, weighted 10 percent, percentage of residents 35-44 years old and nine years and younger, each worth 10 percent, access to day care, weighted 5 percent, and access to grocery stores, five percent. 

According to Niche, the U.S. Census and the Institute of Museum, Library Services and Niche  provided the data used.

Red Oak, ranked 46 out of 50, received a “C” for crime and safety, “C” for education, “B-” for access to libraries, “C” for community, “C” for housing, “B-” for access to day care and “B-” for access to grocery stores. The city also has 12.8 percent residents ages 35-44 and 12.5 percent of residents are nine years old and younger. 

Towns ranking higher than Red Oak were Shenandoah at 25, Clarinda at 32 and Glenwood at 36. Council Bluffs was ranked last. 

Shenandoah and Clarinda received better grades for crime and safety and access to day care. Shenandoah, Clarinda and Glenwood all graded higher than Red Oak in education, community and housing. Glenwood had the highest ranking for access to libraries. 

Niche assessed 4,280 towns nationwide and ranked 1,557. On their national list of best towns to raise a family in, five Iowa towns made the top 100. 

For more information and to see more rankings, visit local.niche.com/rankings/towns/best-places-for-families/s/iowa/.