Texas Rules Zillow's List of the Best Cities to Be a Kid

Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Dallas, Texas all appear on Zillow's list of the best cities for kids - places with plenty of theme parks, big yards and other playmates.

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Zillow

Sep 15, 2016, 08:00 ET

SEATTLE, Sept. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Zillow announced its list of the best cities for kids[i] and Corpus Christi, Texas tops the list, followed up Madison, Wis. and Fort Worth, Texas.

To compile the list, Zillow analyzed listing descriptions in the 100 largest cities across the country to find the most kid-centric terms, looking for cities where neighborhood friends are easy to come by, parks and theme parks are nearby, and yards are large.

Zillow's top 10 list includes four Texas cities: Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Dallas. In Corpus Christi, number one on the list, 14 percent of residents are under 10 years old and the median yard size is almost 6,000 square feet. There are also seven parks for every 10,000 people.

Other cities on the list include Charlotte, N.C. and Tulsa, Okla. Of the top 10 list, Charlotte has the largest median yard size, at almost 11,000 square feet. In Tulsa, almost 10 percent of listings feature kid friendly terms.

Zillow's Top 10 List of the Best Cities for Kids

Ranking	City	Percent of Residents Under 10 Years Old	Percent of Listings with Kid Friendly Terms[ii]	Number of Parks per 10k People	Number of Theme Parks per 10k People	Median Yard Size in Sq Ft.
1	Corpus Christi, TX	14.0%	6.7%	7	0.07	5,913
2	Madison, WI	10.6%	4.3%	12	0.17	7,730
3	Fort Worth, TX	16.1%	13.8%	4	0.02	5,742
4	San Antonio, TX	14.6%	14.3%	2	0.04	6,211
5	Greensboro, NC	13.2%	7.7%	8	0.01	10,501
6	Charlotte, NC	14.3%	8.0%	4	0.03	10,549
7	Tulsa, OK	14.1%	9.9%	3	0.03	7,226
8	Wichita, KS	15.4%	8.7%	4	0.02	7,388
9	Anchorage, AK	14.0%	3.8%	8	0.03	7,297
10	Dallas, TX	15.7%	7.6%	3	0.02	7,133

"Must-haves for families with kids are a lot different than those without," said Zillow Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Wacksman. "In addition to a convenient commute, families with kids also want an awesome backyard. Forget the gourmet kitchen – kids want a decked-out finished basement, dedicated playroom or custom treehouse. Proximity to happening nightlife isn't nearly as important as growing up close to lots of other kids to play around with. On this list of kid-friendly communities, currently 'hot,' amenity-rich, dense cities like San Francisco and Seattle take a back seat to communities in wide-open places like Texas and the Midwest that offer plenty of room for children to grow."

City Name	Percent of Children Under 10 Years Old	Percent of Listings with Kid Friendly Terms	Number of Parks per 10k People	Number of Theme Parks per 10k People[iii]	Median Yard Size in Sq Ft.[iv]
New York, NY	12.5%	5.0%	3	0.01	n/a
Los Angeles, CA	12.4%	6.6%	2	0.01	5,462
Chicago, IL	13.0%	2.0%	3	0.02	n/a
Houston, TX	14.9%	10.3%	3	0.02	5,882
Philadelphia, PA	12.8%	3.6%	3	0.01	653
Phoenix, AZ	15.3%	5.4%	2	0.01	5,550
Las Vegas, NV	13.8%	1.8%	2	0.02	4,087
San Antonio, TX	14.6%	14.3%	2	0.04	6,211
San Diego, CA	11.9%	4.1%	3	0.02	n/a
Dallas, TX	15.7%	7.6%	3	0.02	7,133
San Jose, CA	12.8%	4.3%	3	0.04	4,705
Jacksonville, FL	13.3%	6.4%	5	0.01	7,812
San Francisco, CA	8.2%	7.2%	3	0.01	1,463
Indianapolis, IN	14.8%	6.1%	3	0.02	7,363
Austin, TX	13.3%	12.2%	4	0.01	6,488
Fort Worth, TX	16.1%	13.8%	4	0.02	5,742
Detroit, MI	13.5%	0.9%	4	0.00	3,668
Columbus, OH	13.9%	3.7%	6	0.02	5,659
Memphis, TN	14.6%	5.8%	3	0.01	7,698
Charlotte, NC	14.3%	8.0%	4	0.03	10,549
El Paso, TX	14.5%	4.5%	4	n/a	5,444
Boston, MA	9.8%	2.7%	7	0.01	n/a
Seattle, WA	9.4%	5.4%	7	0.01	4,565
Baltimore, MD	12.9%	2.2%	7	n/a	1,232
Denver, CO	12.8%	4.3%	5	0.01	4,851
Washington, DC	11.2%	1.9%	7	0.01	1,707
Nashville, TN	13.0%	7.4%	5	n/a	10,103
Milwaukee, WI	15.4%	3.5%	4	n/a	4,677
Tucson, AZ	11.8%	4.5%	3	0.02	n/a
Portland, OR	10.6%	7.8%	6	0.01	4,311
Oklahoma City, OK	14.9%	6.7%	3	0.02	6,374
Omaha, NE	14.5%	3.7%	5	0.02	6,962
Albuquerque, NM	13.4%	3.9%	6	0.01	n/a
Fresno, CA	16.7%	5.0%	1	0.03	5,687
Sacramento, CA	14.1%	4.7%	5	0.03	5,134

Zillow
Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Zillow also sponsors the bi-annual Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) which measures consumer confidence in local housing markets, both currently and over time. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.

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[i] Zillow's analysis looked at public records and listings on Zillow, data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2014 American Community Survey, The Trust for Public Land data on parks, and POI Factory data on theme parks.

[ii] Terms included in the analysis were treehouse, playroom, bonus room, kid's room, game room, big yard, large yard, huge yard and giant yard.

[iii] There are between one and 18 theme parks nearby any given city. After normalizing for population, the number of theme parks per 10,000 people is inevitably less than one.

[iv] Data not available for all cities. Cities with missing data were not included in the overall ranking analysis.

SOURCE Zillow