Portland is apparently a terrible place to raise a kid, according to report - OregonLive

Well, it turns out your aunt in Illinois is right. According to something called “Scholaroo,” Portland is an awful place for people who live with children.

Portland, your city, ranks as the 120th best city in America to raise a family out of 152, the study says. First place? Warwick, Rhode Island.

OK ... so, how did so-called “Scholaroo,” a website that “helps you find your dream scholarships with none of the hassle,” come to this conclusion?

They ranked cities based on the categories of “Safety,” “Healthcare,” “Finances,” “Education,” “Leisure,” “Quality of life” and “Home atmosphere.”

These categories seem reasonable at first glance, but how did they determine each ranking? Dubiously.

Take, for example, the second-place city: Charleston, West Virginia. Hmm. According to Scholaroo, Charleston ranks sixth place for “education.”

Interesting, since other reports rank West Virginian as near the worst state in the country for education. So, how is Scholaroo getting their number? Well, partially it’s based on the number of public schools per capita. You know what they say about education! Quantity over quality!

They also based that ranking on the number of teachers, graduation rates, expenditure per kid and number of students per class. Nary a mention of whether the kids can read or not.

Questionable.

And why did Portland rank so low? Well, it’s probably, as your aunt would tell you, that “Safety” category. Portland ranked 137th out of 152. Seems dubious again, but apparently safety is based solely on law enforcement: number of police officers (yes, we have a shortage), number of firefighters, “number of registered neighborhood watch groups per capita” (eye roll), and then numbers of crimes and sex offenders.

Sure, these could be things one might consider, but, what actually impacts a child’s safety?

The number one cause of death in children, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will show you, is unintentional injuries. These come from drownings, car accidents, suffocation, fires and other horrible things. Drownings and car accidents though, among kids, are the big ones.

Suicide and homicide also rank in the top three or four reasons, depending on age.

So, if I were figuring out the safest place to raise a kid, I would look at places with lower numbers of drownings and car accidents, maybe lifejacket programs around water and definitely fewer guns.

None of these things is mentioned by Scholaroo.

Another ranking in which Portland is unfairly maligned is the “Leisure” category, where you’d think we’d excel. But no, we rank 98th here, based apparently on number of “family-friendly” restaurants, movie theaters, museums and “recreational areas.”

I guess it’s a quantity over quality thing again?

And look, if you are making your choice of where to raise a family based on suspicious ranking on a website I just heard about today, that’s on you. But, if you’re wondering whether you should have a family in Portland, I would just remind you that kids like the zoo way more than any museum, unless it’s a science museum.

And also, having a kid is very hard and super expensive no matter where you do it, so if you want to do it, might as well do it in a place with most of your friends, bike lanes and a city-wide free summer lunch program!

— Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker

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