March 06, 2017
There are plenty of factors to consider when deciding on whether to raise a family in the city versus the suburbs.
Oftentimes, one of the biggest factors is affordability.
Analysts at Zillow and Care.com (an online site that helps to facilitate child care) recently released a 2017 cost of living report to help prospective homebuyers.
The report compares the average cost of living in several cities and their surrounding suburbs, including Philadelphia, by taking into account the costs of mortgages, property taxes and child care.
For the Philadelphia area, the report found that it pays to pick the city.
When considering the aforementioned budget items, Philly's city-dwellers were found to spend $13,849 less a year compared to homeowners raising kids in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Compared to the other areas in the report, Philadelphia's urban families saw the biggest savings over neighboring suburbanites.
Homebuyers raising kids in New York City versus its suburbs fared the worst, spending $71,237 more a year, the report found.
Pittsburgh, like Philadelphia, similarly saw savings on the city side, with families spending $4,258 less a year than those in its suburbs.
The report evidently didn't take into account any other factors, like safety and education quality, which may have swayed the findings for Philly.
