Northeast's Best Cities for Settling Down

The cost of having children is rising, as is the cost to own a home, especially in the expensive Northeast. A new study finds the best cities in the region to raise a family this year.

SmartAsset's analysis is based on 10 metrics, including housing costs as a share of annual income, the annual cost of childcare, average reading and math proficiency, high school graduation rate, poverty rate, unemployment rate, and more. Toms River, N.J. came in first, one of four Jersey cities in the top 10 ranking. Meanwhile, Newton and Framingham, Mass. took the second and third spots.

The total cost of raising a child through age 17 is nearly $234,000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s a whopping price tag for your bundle of joy. And the expense of having a family explains, in part, the downturn in the American fertility rate and why the average American woman now has just 1.8 children, a figure far below “replacement level.”

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