Blacksburg is best place to raise family, real estate site says
Blacksburg has again been named the most family-friendly community in the country, this time in a list issued by the Homes.com web site.
Blacksburg is No. 1 on the real estate site’s “Top 10 Cities to Raise a Family” listing, placing just ahead of Raleigh, N.C., and Plano, Texas.
The ranking is part of a series of lists that the real estate site unveils throughout the year, Sydney Weaver-Bey of Homes.com said Wednesday.
Echoing last year’s Bloomberg Business Week’s ranking of Blacksburg as the “Best Place in the U.S. to Raise Kids,” the Homes.com list cited the presence of Virginia Tech and economic opportunities as reasons to the No. 1 designation.
Blacksburg “is known for its affordable living costs, low crime rates and exceptional schools. Blacksburg is brimming with family-friendly amenities,” the new listing said.
Heather Browning, Blacksburg’s community relations manager, wrote in an e-mail that town officials welcome the new listing.
“We’re thrilled … We have long felt that Blacksburg is a town that offers something for everyone,” Browning wrote.
In Blacksburg, young families can find a mix of outdoor recreation, good schools and day care, low crime, and “top notch” employment possibilities that may not be available in more urban areas, Browning wrote.
Blacksburg is no stranger to best-of listings. Recent designations include being fifth, as a metro area taking in Christiansburg and Radford, on a “Best Small Cities for Jobs” list issued this year by Forbes. Blacksburg was a Top 10 best affordable mountain town for retirement on a U.S. News & World Report ranking in 2010, and 19th on a “Most Secure Small Places to Live in the U.S.” listing created by Farmers Insurance the same year.
Weaver-Bey said that the Homes.com list was compiled by an evaluation team that travels across the country to “really get a feeling for the various cities.” She thought the evaluation team came through Blacksburg during the summer.
The Homes.com team receives nominations from a variety of sources, including other best-of lists, Weaver-Bey said. But it does not let communities nominate themselves.
“We try to keep it organic,” she said.
To read the ranking, go here.
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I enjoy living in Blacksburg. I do think this is a great town for my baby and 3-year old. That said, Heather Browning is either unaware or being dishonest about the day care situation in Blacksburg town limits. There are waiting lists for the best day care facilities that can take years (2 years for one we applied for) to get through. That said, there are other good to mediocre facilities with shorter wait times, and it is true that the cost for day care is reasonable here. There is definitely demand for more very high quality day care – and folks are forced to go with their second and third choices for day care providers.
Comment by Andrew — October 10, 2012 @ 5:25 pm
People that have lived here for a long time may take Blacksburg for granted.
All the friends that moved away told me how much they miss Blacksburg and wish they can find jobs here to move back.
Comment by Local Gal — October 16, 2012 @ 4:56 am