Many of the key reasons Americans move revolve around doing what’s best for their families. We move at certain key stages – as we get married, as we have kids, as our kids become old enough for school, and as our kids head off to college.

The communities we choose to live in as we raise children are arguably the most important, as they tend to be some of the places we live the longest. Thus, Livability created this 10 Best Cities for Families list to offer some great examples of metros that truly stand out as great places to raise your kids.

We crunched the data. We looked at the quality of the schools, the crime rate, and measures of the quality of healthcare and economy. We gave points to communities that are walkable, diverse, have lots of parks and active children’s sections in their libraries. We favored communities with shorter commute times (so working parents can be home more and on the road less) and larger populations of other kids to play with.

As with all of our Top 10 lists, our data-driven process produces a shortlist which our editors then use to guide the selection of cities. We try to choose cities of a variety of sizes and in a variety of places. Not every city will necessarily be a perfect match, but our hope is that one of the 10 will be a good fit for you--and in this case for your family, too. You can check out more information on each of these 10 cities – and thousands more – on Livability.com.

Let’s get one thing clear from the outset: These are not the least expensive places to live in America. There are places where you can buy a home for pocket change, and whole towns that cost less than a home in Palo Alto, Calif. But if you ask the question “Would you want to live there?”, the answer is likely “No.” Instead, this is a list of affordable cities you’d actually want to live in.

The 100 Best Places to Live 2016

By affordable, we also don’t mean merely cheap. We take earning potential into account as well. So how do we choose the Top 10 Best Affordable Places to Live? We start with data. For this list we look at cost of living and how that compares to national averages for key components of the budget like housing, transportation, food and utilities. As you can imagine, we look for cheap places. But we also look for places with high incomes to make those cheap costs go even further. We look for places with high livability, as determined by our LivScore, and low income inequality.

The 10 Most Affordable Places to Live 2015

Finally, once we have a short list in place, our editors factor in their own knowledge of these cities and look for a good balance of sizes, geographies and types of cities. How’d we do?

Choosing where to raise your children is one of the most important housing decisions you'll make. The right community can help get kids started on the path to a thriving childhood. Access to great schools, parks, and lots of playmates can help keep kids happy and healthy. With that in mind, we surveyed more than 2,000 cities to find the Top 10 Best Cities for Families.

How did we find them? To begin with, we crunched the numbers on the factors most important to our youngest residents. First, we looked for places with high populations of kids but low concentrations of children in poverty using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. We also used consumer spending data from Esri to find areas that had high concentrations of people buying baby food and car seats. Once we knew where the kids were, we looked for communities doing a great job of supporting them. We used data from partner GreatSchools.org to measure the quality of public schools and also looked for areas with high graduation rates. We analyzed databases to find areas with plentiful parks and libraries with programs and activities for kids. We also factored in each area’s Walk Score. Health is an important consideration as well, so we looked at factors related to healthy living, especially geared for children, like air quality. Finally, we factored in general quality of life considerations like cost of living, low commute times (less time on the road can mean more time at home with the little ones) and the crime rate.

Data tells a pretty good story, but we also always rely on the judgment of our staff and editors to take the data-driven short list and arrive at the final 10 picks. We chose a variety of cities from different geographies and sizes to round out our latest top 10. Three cities (Carmel, Overland Park and Plano) also appeared on our previous index, Best Cities for Kids 2014. The latest list examined even more factors. Be sure to check out our Best Cities for Families infographic, which also provides tips for how to use our site to find the right city for your family. 

You don't have to take our word for it, however. Most of this data is available for nearly every U.S. city on Livability.com. Compare and contrast to find the perfect place for you. In the meantime, see what we came up with. Check out our Top 10 Best Cities for Families, and let us know what you think in the comments.

In our annual overall Best Places to Live list, many of the cities are a little on the pricey side. We get it. Not everyone can afford to live in a place like Palo Alto or Berkeley. They're great places but not for everyone. Therefore, we felt it was important to look at places that are more affordable. What follows isn’t merely a list of the cheapest places to live in America. We didn’t set out to find cities where you can live on the bare minimum. Instead, these 10 cities are less expensive than most but still great places to live by all of our usual metrics.

GOT KIDS IN THE MIX? Then check out our Best Cities for Families.

To find these cities, we looked at cost of living across a number of categories such health care, food, housing, and transportation using data from C2ER and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We also examined the tax climate in the state. Then we factored in our own unique LivScore. We selected one city per state to give us some geographic balance because much of the cost-of-living data is calculated at the county level.

Sure, there are some cheaper places to live. But these are cities where most people can afford to live and would still want to live.

TAKE THE QUIZ! Find if you should move.

Pet lovers spent an estimated $50 billion on their pets in 2011 according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA). That's an awful lot of doggie bones for Fido and scratching posts for Fluffy. Pets have become more like family members, so it's no wonder that more people are factoring in their pets when contemplating a move.

Below you'll find information on some of the most pet-friendly cities in the United States. These cities have pet-friendly parks and trails, quality veterinary care, active animal welfare groups, as well as an abundance of pet boutiques and retail shops. To make the list, these cities had to be more than pet friendly. They also had to offer an exceptionally high quality of life for the owners who love those pets. From quality health care and higher education to diverse job opportunities, and active artistic and cultural scenes, these cities are some of the best places to work, live and play in America.