July 29, 2010

ForbesWoman names Seattle ninth best U.S. city for working moms

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For the second year in a row, ForbesWoman.com has culled, sorted, and ranked data on the largest U.S. metropolitan areas to produce its list of the 50 best cities for working mothers.

[Image: U.S. Employment Service poster from 1940s]

Seattle-Tacoma ranked No. 9 on the list, sandwiched between New York City at No. 8 and Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y. at No. 10. Minneapolis-St. Paul; Washington, D.C.; and Boston claimed the top three spots, respectively. (See the entire list of top 50 U.S. cities for working mothers.)

ForbesWoman is quick to note that "'best' means different things to different people." For this reason, the publication synthesized data on cost of living, women's salaries, unemployment rates, access to quality pediatricians, school spending per student, and violent crimes in each of the 50 locations.

Although Seattle-Tacoma's cost of living ranked 43rd on this list of 50, we snagged the twelfth highest ranking for women's income, the thirteenth lowest violent crime rate on the list, and the ninth best spot for access to quality pediatric health care. Our spending per pupil and unemployment rate were a bit less impressive, however, ranking eighteenth and nineteenth on the list, respectively.

To arrive at these stats, ForbesWoman crunched numbers from the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Justice, the website HealthGrades.com, and the 2007 edition of the Frommer's book "Cities: Ranked and Rated," by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander.

Local moms, what do you think of Seattle-Tacoma coming in ninth on this list? Did you explore other metropolitan areas before deciding to raise your kids here? How does our region compare?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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benefits, negotiating, work/life balance, working parents

2 Comments

Antonia on August 7, 2010 10:36 AM | Reply

Seattle making the top ten list for working mothers? Perhaps- if they aren't a single working mother with a middle class income.

I realize this is personal experience but I always found it very difficult to live here- the school district in Seattle was very unfriendly to single working mothers. Examples of this include having almost two weeks of half days and parent teacher conferences DURING the workday which left parents scrambling for day care and trying to take off work for a 15 minute conference.

Day care options are limited and extremely pricey- many had long wait lists. PTAs and Soccer coaches often scheduled events between 3-5 PM which are times that many people work.

I think Forbes needs to tweak their reubics for measuring "best" as I would have taken having less than 10 pediatricians to choose from if I could have had parent teacher conferences in the evening.

Martha on September 2, 2010 1:35 PM | Reply

Great post! I think Seattle is the best city in the world and has the best things to offer! I recently stumbled upon this blog that I found pretty funny in its reference to Seattle: http://burisonthecouch.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/theres-no-place-like-home-sort-of/

Thanks for the post! Seattle rocks!

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