The 10 best cities to be a mom

Motherhood is tough wherever you are in the world, but there are cities that are better than others at supporting women through the challenges of raising a child. So if you are a mother or soon-to-be one, continue reading below to find out the best places to be a mom in the U.S.

Best cities for moms

To mark Mother’s Day on May 8th, lawn care services marketplace LawnStarter compared 180 of the most populated U.S. cities based on various mom-friendliness factors, such as OB/GYN and pediatrician access, strength of breastfeeding laws, child care costs, and new-mom support groups. After averaging their scores across all 44 different weighted metrics, below are the 10 places that emerged as the best cities for new moms in 2022:

Orange, CA
Boston, MA
Portland, OR
Jersey City, NJ
San Francisco, CA
Salem, OR
Eugene, OR
Paterson, NJ
Yonkers, NY
Bellevue, WA

With the highest overall score of 55.28 (out of 100 possible points), Orange, California is this year’s best city for new moms. Topping the Maternity Care ranking, Orange got high scores in metrics like OB/GYN and midwife access, quality of public hospitals, and availability of lactation spaces.

Overall second-placer Boston, Massachusetts secured the first spot in the Child Care ranking and got high scores across all metrics.

Portland, Oregon and Jersey City, New Jersey, meanwhile, soared to top 3 and top 4 in the overall ranking, respectively, due to their strong mom-friendly laws, including legal protections around paid leave, job security, and wage replacement during pregnancy and childbirth.

Aside from faring well in the Child Care ranking, San Francisco, California landed at the fifth spot overall due to its high score in the Socioeconomics ranking, which looked into the unemployment rate for women with children under age 6 and food insecurity rate, among others.

As seen above, the five cities completing the top 10 best places to be a mom in the U.S. are Salem, Oregon; Eugene Oregon; Paterson, New Jersey; Yonkers, New York; and Bellevue, Washington.

Worst cities for moms

For the second year in a row, Detroit, Michigan is the worst city for new moms. Motor City sank to the bottom of the overall ranking because of its poor scores across all metrics, except Affordability and Social Support.

Following just behind Detroit are Fayetteville, North Carolina and three Texas suburbs like Grand Prarie, Pasadena, and Mesquite. While these Texas cities are moderately affordable, they lack resources to meet the needs of new moms.

Below are 2022’s top 10 worst cities for new moms: