City population: 408,958

Average family income: $78,466

Percentage of families with children: 28.3%

Metro-area spending per student: $6,077

Public playgrounds: 157

The city that bore Warren Buffett is a great place to raise children — though there’s no guarantee they’ll grow up to be billionaire investors. Southwestern Omaha, in particular, is an idyll of good schools, tended sports fields and tidy cul-de-sacs. The Millard School District, home to Nebraska’s only K-12 International Baccalaureate program, features sky-high standardized test scores, a top-ranked music program and one of the country’s best school library systems (according to the American Association of School Librarians, which awarded Millard top honors in 2003). In the western suburbs especially, crime rates are low enough for kids to walk to school worry-free.

And there’s plenty to do in the city itself: A zoo, a children’s museum and a 64-year-old children’s theater anchor Omaha’s kid-friendly offerings. Parents, meanwhile, enjoy living costs 10.5% below the national average, a modest 4.7% unemployment rate and well-paid jobs at major companies, including Union Pacific and the aforementioned Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Read more: http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/10-great-cities-to-raise-kids/11.html#ixzz1wUcSg9x9
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