Fortune ranked the 25 best places for families in the US. This NC town is in the Top 5.

Kristen Johnson
·3 min read

One of the Triangle’s growing, diverse communities ranks at the top of Fortune’s list of 25 Best Places to Live for Families in the country.

In the news outlet’s inaugural list released Wednesday, Morrisville ranked No. 5 among the top areas in the United States “where multi-generational families are most likely to have access to critical resources, community support and financial well-being.”

Morrisville, home to over 30,000 residents, is one of the most diverse areas in the Triangle with an expanding community of Fortune 500 companies and businesses.

Fortune picked 25 municipalities out of more than 2,000 cities, towns, suburbs, village, and townships that had between 25,000 and 750,000 residents across all 50 states in the U.S.

Statesville, about 40 miles north of Charlotte, ranks at No. 24.

Fortune said its ranking focused on families in the “sandwich generation” who are taking on responsibilities of raising their own children and caring for their aging parents. The organization collected more than 215,000 data points across five categories, including education, aging resources, general wellness, financial health and livability.

The Top 10 cities on Fortune’s list are:

  1. Ann Arbor, Michigan

  2. Wylie, Texas

  3. Olathe, Kansas

  4. Mason, Ohio

  5. Morrisville

  6. Clearfield, Utah

  7. Gaithersburg, Maryland

  8. Leesburg, Virginia

  9. West Chicago, Illinois

  10. Novi, Michigan

‘Live Connected. Live Well’

This isn’t the first time Morrisville has received national attention. Last year, the town was named an All-America City by the National Civic League and took the No. 1 spot for best suburb to live in the state by Niche.

Located in western Wake County, Morrisville sits next to Cary and Research Triangle Park, the largest research park in the nation. Hundreds of science and technology businesses flock to the area bringing jobs to the region.

In the last 21 years, the population of Morrisville ballooned from 5,200 in 2000 to 31,278 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census.

The Census reports the town’s population is 46% Asian Indian, 35% white, 10% African American, 5% Hispanic or Latino and 9% two or more races.

Additionally, 74% of the Morrisville population is over the age 18.

The community is home to one of the state’s largest airports: Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which covers more than 5,000 acres and has 48 domestic and six international destinations.

Because of its airport and attractiveness to companies, Morrisville is one of the fastest growing towns in the Southeast, according to the town’s Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, the town is home of the Minor League Cricket team, Morrisville Raptors, and houses the practice facility for the Carolina Hurricanes.

The local median household income is now $102,000, almost twice the state average of $54,000, the town reports.

Fortune’s methodology

About seven in 10 Americans with at least one living parent say they expect to help their aging parents regularly in the future, according to Fortune. Eighty-eight percent of millennials are planning to care for their baby boomer generation parents, Fortune reports.

As a result, location is key for many of these families if they can find a place with high-quality schools, reliable health care, senior support and safe neighborhoods. Fortune said these help “bolster the well-being of multi-generational families and mitigate stress for caregivers.”

In its rankings, Fortune put extra emphasis on factors that meet the challenges of this group of families, such as the quality of local school districts, graduation rates, nearby college affordability, the number of quality nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They also included the number of home health care agencies, the risks of social isolation for older residents and access to health care providers, according to a press release.

Additionally, Fortune removed the inclusion of any town where more than 90% of the population is white, non-Hispanic.

The editors of the magazine compared the racial demographics of a place against state benchmarks and removed any place that was less diverse than either state or national medians.

Fortune pulled data from its data partners Caring.com, CVS Pharmacy, Healthgrades, ShareCare and Witlytic.

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