Best Suburbs for Single-Parent Households

According to the American Community Survey, there were 26 million single-earner families in the United States in 2022 — that's 31% of all households. Finding the right community can significantly help with navigating parenthood on one income. Some single parents might find that suburban life offers the affordable living costs, access to enriching activities and safe environment needed to raise their children comfortably.

To identify the best suburbs for single-parent households, MoneyGeek analyzed data on income, child care and housing rental costs, access to recreational and day care facilities, education quality, and crime rates across 50 U.S. suburbs. We found that suburban communities in Tennessee and Indiana may be the ideal choices for single parents seeking a safe, happy and financially suitable environment for their families.

Brentwood, Tennessee, ranks first as the ideal suburb for single-parent households. It has the highest single-earner income of any suburb MoneyGeek analyzed at an average of $189,286 annually. It's also one of the safest suburbs, holding the fifth-lowest violent crime rate with 71 crimes per 100,000 residents.

Franklin, another Tennessee suburb, joins the list with the fifth-highest annual single-earner income of $112,813, ranking at the No.3 best suburb overall. These two suburbs share the same county and metro area, with an unemployment rate of just 2.5% and child care costs averaging $14,615 annually, the second-lowest among all metro areas analyzed.

Carmel and Fishers, Indiana, also rank in the top five suburbs for single-parent households. These cities boast the two lowest property crime rates in the study, with 655 and 672 crimes per 100,000 residents, respectively. Both suburbs are located in Hamilton County, Indiana, which boasted the lowest unemployment rate (2.2%) in the MoneyGeek's study.

MoneyGeek zeroed in on costs to find the most affordable suburbs for single parents. Our analysis found that Elizabethtown, Kentucky, is the most budget-friendly suburb in the country; located less than an hour from Louisville, Kentucky, single parents there typically earn $54,700 per year. Elizabethtown also averages annual child care costs of $15,482 and rental housing expenses of $9,907, both ranking within the top 10 for cost. A close runner-up is Hickory, North Carolina, which shares the surrounding metro area’s affordable rental expenses ($8,688 annually).

King County, Washington, has the highest number of day care centers (40 centers per 100,000 residents) of any area studied, particularly in suburbs like Redmond, Issaquah and Auburn. Dublin, Ohio, and Alpharetta, Georgia, also earn spots on the list with more than 30 day care centers per 100,000 county residents.

Many parents value their children’s education quality, safety and ability to access enriching recreational spaces. With these factors in mind, MoneyGeek also identified the best and the worst suburbs for single parents based on:

• Education quality, based on high school graduation rates
• Safety, by factoring in both violent crime and property crimes per 100,000 population
• Recreation accessibility, by evaluating the number of recreational establishments per 100,000 residents

To find and rank the best suburbs for single-parent households, MoneyGeek considered nine metrics across four categories: income, costs, safety and youth development and support. We assigned each metric a specific weight, which was then used to calculate a final ranking score through a weighted average. Assigned weights are expressed within parentheses for each metric. The city with the highest final ranking score ranked as the best suburb for single-parent households.

Income

• Single-Earner Income (15%): This is the median one-earner family income in the last 12 months across all cities. Data comes from the American Community Survey and is for 2021.

• Unemployment Rate (15%): Refers to the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed. Data is at the county level, comes from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and is for 2021.

Cost

• Annual Child Care Costs (17.5%): Represents metro-level annual child care costs for families with one parent and two children. The metro area data was allocated to corresponding cities, which then adopted the metro area's child care costs. Data comes from MIT Living Wage and is for 2022.

• Annual Housing Rental Costs (7.5%): Represents rental housing costs for families with one parent and two children in a specified area as of April 2022, utilizing HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) estimates. Data is at the metro level, comes from MIT Living Wage and is for 2022.

Safety

• Violent Crimes per 100,000 People (5%): Represents the number of violent crimes reported by law enforcement per city. The FBI classifies violent crimes as those involving force or threat. Data comes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Explorer and is for 2021.

• Property Crimes per 100,000 People (5%): Represents property crime incidents reported by law enforcement per city. The FBI categorizes property crimes as incidents in which money or property is taken without utilizing force or threats against victims. Data comes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Explorer and is for 2021.

Youth Development and Support

• High School Graduation Rate (10%): Denotes the percentage of students in each county who successfully graduate within four years. Data is at the county level, comes from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and is for 2020.

• Child Day Care Facilities per 100,000 People (20%): Indicates the number of child day care facilities per 100,000 residents. Data is at the county level, comes from the United States Census Bureau and is for 2021.

• Recreational Establishments per 100,000 People (5%): Indicates the number of child recreational areas per 100,000 residents. This includes arts, entertainment and amusement facilities. Data is at the county level, comes from the United States Census Bureau and is for 2021.

To narrow our list, MoneyGeek focused on suburban areas within a 15-minute to one-hour drive from the nearest large city. We removed cities with incomplete data from the previously mentioned sources, kept the top 50 most populous cities and ranked them. The city with the lowest final ranking score ranks as the worst suburb for single-parent households.