DALLAS — So I think it's safe to say that this study from LawnStarter is in the running for one of the worst Father's Day gifts in Texas.
The company published their research on "the best cities for single dads to live in 2023," comparing the 200 largest cities in the country. Of all of those cities, many in Texas make up about half of the worst.
The study puts Brownsville as the worst single father city in the country, followed by Killeen as second-worst. Mesquite and Laredo are fourth and fifth, then Pasadena is ninth.
Tenth place for the worst cities is a tie between Garland, Texas, and Port St. Lucie, Florida. Houston's right behind them at No. 11.
In case you're wondering, Bellevue, Washington, is apparently the best city.
And - as if there isn't already enough competition between Texas and California - the Golden State makes up exactly half of the top 10 best list.
It's worth noting that four Texas cities made the top 100 best: Frisco (No. 12), McKinney (No. 34), Plano (No. 35), and Austin (No. 78).
What makes Texas so bad for single dads?
LawnStarter compared all 200 cities with 35 metrics. Those metrics are divided under six categories:
- Affordability (poverty, purchasing power, housing affordability)
- Child Care (amount of baby supply stores and childcare workers, childcare affordability)
- Health and Education (quality of hospitals and schools, uninsured children, food insecurity)
- Home and Outdoors (quality of air and water, crime, local parks, etc.)
- Work-Life Balance (length of work weeks, commute times, availability of family leave, etc)
- Community Support (number of single dads and fatherhood support groups in the area)
To add more fuel to the Cali-Texas feud, the California cities in the top 10 best overall mostly ranked in the top 100 for each category. The only triple-digit ranking they have is under Community Support; Fremont was placed at No. 140.
On the other hand, almost all of the Texas cities in the bottom 10 overall had triple-digit rankings for every category.
Pasadena and Mesquite deserve their credit for their Child Care ranks. Pasadena's 33 ranking actually topped over one California city in this category. Mesquite was placed 59th.
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