Washington Post Writer Finds Indiana County Stands Out As A ‘Best Place To Raise A Family’

Indiana County gets high ratings in four categories as The Washington Post surveys “What’s the best place to raise a family.”

In an opinion piece the Post said it scored every county, finding high ratings in 13 of the 67 Pennsylvania counties, including Indiana and, nearby, Somerset, Huntingdon and Fulton counties.

“This needs to be shouted from the rooftops,” Indiana Area School Director Tom Harley said as he called attention to the article.

Specifically, Indiana County received a 67 for affordability, 56 for education quality, 88 for safety of the neighborhood and 72 for policy support, specifically “generous policies for personal liberty and parental support.”

Pulling together the survey was Writer Youyou Zhou, a graphics reporter at the Post’s Opinions desk and a data and visual journalist based in New York.

As for that category of “generous policies,” as she explained, “we gathered data for every county in the United States across four metrics: affordability, quality of education, neighborhood safety, and state policies on abortion access, parental leave and LGBTQ rights,” saying “all these factors are important for the well-being of parents and children.”

Put another way in the article, “a better public school district and a lower crime rate moved up the county’s score, while limited personal liberty, fewer state-mandated parental leave days or higher costs of raising children lowered the rate.”

Zhou had past experience at the general interest news site Vox, the self-described “digitally native news organization” Quartz and the Associated Press.

“The United States is reaching its lowest birth rate in history, but that alarming outcome isn’t necessarily intentional,” Zhou wrote. “Pew Research Center data show that the majority of young Americans today still want to have children.”

Zhou said the answers to her survey often depend on where people live.

“Childcare is highly expensive in some parts of the country, but there are places where raising a child does not cost half of a family’s income,” she went on. “Meanwhile, where children grow up still plays a crucial role in their future success.”

She conceded that “not every family can live where they want,” but “for future parents, there are options for living in a better place.” As Zhou concluded. “Thoroughly weighing what’s important to you and your family will help make childbearing a much easier process and child-raising a happier journey.”