Pawtucket: best RI city to raise kids

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) - BusinessWeek Magazine has named Pawtucket on its list of "The Best Places to Raise Your Kids 2009."

BusinessWeek teamed up with OnBoard Infomatics, a Manhattan-based provider of real estate analysis, to come up with a list of each state's best affordable towns for raising children.

Pawtucket, described as a mill city on the Blackstone River, was ranked number one is Rhode Island.

The magazine said the city is becoming known as an artist enclave with the transformation of aging mills into artists' lofts and studios.

According to the article, the magazine said the most important factors in its analysis were school performance, affordability, and safety. But it also gave weight to cost-of-living, air quality, job growth, racial diversity, and local parks, ball fields, zoos, recreation centers, museums, and theaters.

Warwick and Cranston were runners-up in the magazine's findings.

Mount Prospect, Ill. topped the magazine's overall list as the best place to raise kids in America.