A new ranking from Fortune and CVS Health assesses the quality of life for the so-called "sandwich generation" of Americans who face the simultaneous responsibilities of raising children while regularly caring for their parents.
The ranking, released Sept. 28, is based on Fortune's analysis of more than 215,000 data points for nearly 2,000 cities and towns with between 25,000 and 750,000 residents across all 50 states in the U.S.
Emphasis was placed on factors of great importance to the sandwich generation, such as quality of local school districts, graduation rates, nearby college affordability, the number of quality nursing homes, home health care agencies, risk of social isolation among older residents and access to high-quality healthcare providers. (More detail on the ranking's methodology can be found here.)
The analysis finds communities in the Midwest, West, and mid-Atlantic were more likely to offer better access to quality hospitals and physicians, high-quality public schools and support for older residents than found in the Southeast and at more affordable rates than in major metro areas, such as New York and San Francisco.
"The winning city, Ann Arbor, is a midsize community that is home to top-ranked University of Michigan, and its educational prowess extends across the spectrum with the vast majority of the district's K-12 schools ranking above average," Fortune notes in an article accompanying the ranking. "The proximity to the university also delivers a big wellness benefit, with the University of Michigan's health system and academic medical center earning top marks for patient safety since 2012 — one of only 23 U.S. hospitals to do so."
Below are the top 15 cities for the sandwich generation. The complete ranking can be found here.
- Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Wylie, Texas
- Olathe, Kan.
- Mason, Ohio
- Morrisville, N.C.
- Clearfield, Utah
- Gaithersburg, Md.
- Leesburg, Va.
- West Chicago, Ill.
- Novi, Mich.
- West Windsor, N.J.
- Tustin, Calif.
- South Portland, Maine
- Woodbury, Minn.
- Parsippany-Troy Hills, N.J.