Families take refuge in cool ocean waves at La Jolla Shores to escape high temperatures. Photo by Chris Stone
Families take refuge in ocean waves at La Jolla Shores. File photo by Chris Stone

San Diego may have expensive housing, but it still ranks as one of the 10 best U.S. cities for raising a family, according to the financial services website WalletHub.

The Miami-based company ranked 182 U.S. cities — including the 150 most populous, plus at least two cities from each state — on five measures:  affordability, education, health, socio-economics and family fun opportunities.

San Diego came in 8th, with measures of education and family fun outweighing affordability.

Five of the ten best cities were in California, including top-ranked Fremont, Irvine, San Diego, San Jose and Huntington Beach. Only one city in California’s arch-rival Texas — Plano — made the top ten. Pembroke Pines was the top city in Florida, coming in at 40.

“While not perfect — given personal preferences and the limitations of publicly available data — our findings will hopefully give movers a better sense of their options,” WalletHub said.

Other cities in San Diego County made the extended list, including Chula Vista at 43 and Oceanside at 70.

Chris Jennewein is Editor & Publisher of Times of San Diego.