Are Plymouth and Canton Attractive to Young Families?

NerdWallet, a personal finances adviser, recently released rankings for the best towns for young families across the state. Troy, Royal Oak, and Novi made the top five of the list, while Livonia ranked in at nine. Despite its high property values and standout school district, Plymouth and Canton were nowhere on it.

The analysis, completed for the first time in Michigan, asked three questions: 

1. Does the town have good public schools? 
2. Can you afford to live there?
3. Is the town growing and prospering?

“We try to find out more about the towns and get a sense of what it's like for families there.  So one thing that struck us about Novi were some of the environmental efforts,” Mike Anderson, analyst with NerdWallet, who wrote the study said.

The overall score for each city was derived from:

• GreatSchools city rating: GreatSchools city ratings are calculated by averaging the weighted overall rating for each school in the city (weighted by the number of students enrolled at the school)
• median home value from the U.S. Census (2011 ACS, data set DP04, half-weighted)
• monthly homeowner costs from the U.S. Census (2011 ACS, data set DP04, half-weighted)
• median household income from the U.S. Census (2011 ACS, data set DP03, half-weighted)
• income change between 1999 and 2011 from the U.S. Census (data sets P053 and DP03, half-weighted)

There were 106 Michigan cities and areas designated as places by the U.S. Census included in the analysis. Only places with a population greater than 10,000 were considered. See more details on the rankings.

Does NerdWallet have it wrong? What makes Plymouth and Canton a great place to live for young families? Tell us in the comments. 

Patch Editor Aysha Jamali contributed to this report.