Parenting Pointers - 2024's Best Cities for Single Dads

 

Which cities are best for juggling the many responsibilities that come with being a single father? To mark Father’s Day on June 16, LawnStarter ranked 2024's Best Cities for Single Dads. We compared the 500 biggest U.S. cities based on 8 categories. We looked at parent-friendly state policies, affordability of housing and child care services, and access to resources such as child care, health care, yard size, and playground access, among 38 total metrics.  See the 10 best (and 10 worst) cities for single dads below, followed by key takeaways. (Don’t see your city below? Check out the full ranking.)

Best Cities for Single Dads Rank City 1 Newton, MA 2 Redmond, WA 3 Portland, OR 4 Mountain View, CA 5 Warwick, RI 6 7 8 9 10 Cambridge, MA Bellevue, WA Hillsboro, OR Beaverton, OR Irvine, CA Worst Cities for Single Dads Rank City 1 Pharr, TX 2 Miami Gardens, FL 3 Deerfield Beach, FL 4 Flint, MI 5 Pompano Beach, FL 6 7 8 9 10 Brownsville, TX Mesquite, TX Pasadena, CA Garland, TX Hammond, IN

Key Insights: Massachusetts and Oregon offer the most parent-friendly state policies, with the longest paid family leave — 12 weeks — job protections supporting paid family leave, and policies allowing parents to take sick days for child care. Massachusetts protects taking time off for school events, and both states have high shares of wage replacement.  Single parenthood is most affordable to dads in wealthy suburbs like Newton, Massachusetts (No. 1), and Redmond, Washington (No. 2), where working men claiming median annual incomes above $154,000 can easily afford housing and child care.  Some cities with the highest populations of single dads — such as Florida cities Deltona (No. 464) and Homestead (No. 488), and Flint, Michigan (No. 497) — scored near the bottom of our ranking with high rates of food insecurity, poor quality public schools, and few playgrounds.   Read the full story here: https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-single-dads/  Other helpful links: Methodology Treat dad with a mow from a local LawnStarter crew this Father’s Day so you can spend quality time together instead.  More from LawnStarter:  10 Father’s Day Gifts for Lawn Care Nuts Best Cities for Children’s Playgrounds Cities With the Biggest and Smallest Yards Best Bachelor Party Destinations for Golfers Best Cities for Dog Lovers Best Cities for Cat Lovers Best Cities for Cornhole Lovers