SEBRING, Fla. -- Financial news and commentary website 24/7 Wall Street named Sebring the 24th worst U.S. city to raise a child.
The website reviewed several educational, health and safety measures to compile its list.
“Sebring, Florida appears to have one of the least effective education systems of any U.S. metro area,” the site wrote. “Only an estimated 64.0 percent of area high school students receive a diploma within four years.
“No other metro area in the United States had a lower graduation rate,” the site wrote.
24/7 Wall Street did not use measures of income as part of its rankings, but many of the worst cities to raise children have low incomes.
The site found Sebring’s “low graduation rate may also be at least partially due to the economic struggles of residents in the metro area.”
About 33.6 percent of the area’s children live below the national poverty level, according to 24/7 Wall Street.
Sebring was the only city in Florida on 24/7 Wall Street’s list of worst U.S. cities to raise a child.
Sebring data, according to 24/7 Wall Street:
> Preschool enrollment: 36.3 percent
> High school graduation rate: 64.0 percent (lowest 10%)
> Pop. with access to areas for exercise: 80.9 percent
> Violent crime rate: 327.5 per 100,000
Here are 24/7 Wall Street’s worst U.S. cities to raise a child:
- Farmington, New Mexico
- Battle Creek, Michigan
- Medford, Oregon
- Lawton, Oklahoma
- Rocky Mount, North Carolina
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Gadsden, Alabama
- Monroe, Louisiana
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, Alabama
- Odessa, Texas
- Alexandria, Louisiana
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Madera, California
- Florence, South Carolina
- Hanford-Corcoran, California
- Yuba City, California
- Albany, Georgia
- Danville, Illinois
- Columbia, South Carolina
- Pine Bluff, Arkansas
- Stockton-Lodi, California
- Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and North Carolina
- Sebring, Florida
- Albany, Oregon
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