Local

The best places across metro Charlotte for families

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A recent set of rankings by Niche.com gave Charlotte relatively high marks when it came to top cities for raising a family.

To be more exact, Charlotte ranked No. 40 on Niche’s list of more than 200 cities across the U.S., sandwiched between places like San Diego; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Charleston, South Carolina. Raleigh was the sole North Carolina city to come in ahead of Charlotte in the ranking, landing at No. 13.

But what makes a place stand out as great for families? The criteria used by the Pittsburgh-based research and review site in its rankings seeks to answer that question.

Niche graded each place on how suited it is for raising a family, looking at factors considered to be meaningful for families, such as quality of local schools, affordability, safety and access to family amenities. The heftiest weight, for instance, was assigned to public schools, at 20%.

To further break down Niche’s ranking and look specifically at the Charlotte region, the accompanying slideshow reveals the top 20 locales for families across the metro area. While Charlotte suburbs and nearby towns were included in the assessment, those 20 spots all were claimed by neighborhoods in the Queen City.

Check out this slideshow for a look at each neighborhood's overall grade as well as how it did across several factors, such as public schools, housing, jobs, cost of living, outdoor activities as well as health and fitness.