Best cities for families revealed

Good news for Sydneysiders, the harbour city has been named the best Australian city for families in a recent Homeday Index, coming in 13^th in the world.

Melbourne has taken out second place for Aussie cities, being ranked 15^th worldwide. Brisbane also took out a spot in the top 20 worldwide, coming in at 18^th. 

According to the Homeday Index, the most liveable city for families is Copenhagen in Denmark.

Top 20 cities: 

Source: Homeday Table

These rankings were determined by an extensive study into the most important factors for raising a family in an urban landscape.

The main categories for the study include:

• City infrastructure
• Maternity laws
• Healthcare quality
• Happiness levels
• Activities for children
• Expert perception

The study also included micro factors, such as:

• Education quality
• Unemployment
• Safety
• Green spaces
• Transportation
• Affordability

Homeday then analysed thousands of cities around the world based on these categories, as well asking 30,000 parenting experts and family journalists to rate their own city to determine the final list of 100 best cities for families to live in.

Sydney vs Melbourne vs Brisbane

This survey highlights a few of the subtle differences between these three capital cities to take into consideration when choosing where you should start a family.

Sydney has the most kid friendly airport in the world, scoring a perfect 10 out of 10 for this category. It was also awarded high scores for ‘activities for kids’, ‘green spaces’ and from the surveyed experts’ perception of the city.

Melbourne’s top performing category comes from the surveyed experts’ perceptions. Parenting experts and family journalists rated the city a 9.23, and a representative poll of parents rated the city a 9.02. Melbourne was also graded highly for its standout education system, gaining an 8.24 out of 10.

Brisbane came in 6^th in the world for the best cost of living, with a score of 9.45. When it comes to the category of housing affordability, Brisbane came out on top of the three Aussie cities, scoring an 8.09.

Unsurprisingly, Sydney took out the lower of the three city’s scores, with a 4.87. The lowest performing category for all cities was for maternity/paternity law, with a disappointing 1.30.

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