{"id":246719,"date":"2024-07-23T14:05:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/the-fortune-50-best-places-to-live-will-serve-multigenerational-families-for-the-long-haul\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:14:09","slug":"the-fortune-50-best-places-to-live-will-serve-multigenerational-families-for-the-long-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/23\/the-fortune-50-best-places-to-live-will-serve-multigenerational-families-for-the-long-haul\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fortune 50 Best Places to Live will serve multigenerational families for the long haul"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n

When 51-year-old Pazit Aviv walks her dog in her Silver Spring, Md., neighborhood, it takes an extra 30 minutes as she inevitably gets lost in an impromptu chat with a neighbor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI know every single person in a three-street radius,\u201d says Aviv, who has lived in the Washington, D.C., suburb for a decade and raised two children here. Silver Spring, which ranks No. 1 on this year\u2019s Fortune Best Places to Live for Families, has been an ideal hometown for Aviv. It\u2019s close enough to D.C. to enjoy the city\u2019s many amenities, but Silver Spring has its own thriving arts and restaurant scene, plus high-performing schools. It\u2019s the tight-knit community, however, that makes Aviv want to live here into old age. \u201cWe have meals together, and meal trains when a family has a baby or if someone is sick,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A great place to live not only supports families in the present, but also serves them in the long term. With a growing portion of Americans caring for both children and aging parents, more people want to live where multigenerational families can thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just older adults who are taking the long view. Nearly one in five Gen X<\/a> homebuyers purchased homes intended for multigenerational families last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Increasingly, first-time millennial and Gen Z homebuyers plan to stay in their homes for at least a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a longing of older people to age in place, and younger people, like Gen Z, to have a sense of place that they consider home,\u201d says Jon Jon Wesolowski, an urbanist and housing advocate who sees more people eager to change their house to suit them as they age rather than to move.<\/p>\n

In this year\u2019s ranking, we analyzed over 2,000 cities and nearly 200 data categories, assessing livability, financial health, resources for aging adults, education, and wellness. The winners are communities that are sustainable for their youngest and oldest residents\u2014including many fast-growing suburbs and edge cities that find creative ways to improve people\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n

The Small-City Draw\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the Census Bureau, some of the country\u2019s fastest-growing places are edge cities or exurbs. Edge cities fill a gap for people priced out of busy metros, Wesolowski notes. They\u2019re typically housing clusters defined by a city square or public park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people are looking for is that balance of, \u2018I can afford to live here, so I don\u2019t have to work all the time, but then in my free time, there are actually people to connect with and things to do,\u2019\u2009\u201d he tells Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n

Smaller cities tend to prioritize social and community well-being more than urban centers do, says sociologist Michael Rickles, vice president of research at Sharecare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of this year\u2019s top places\u2014including Chantilly, Va. (No. 3), and Morristown, N.J. (No. 9)\u2014have fewer than 30,000 residents and scored among the highest on Sharecare\u2019s Community Well-Being Index.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said about the known limits of a small space, because you\u2019re more comfortable in it, and you\u2019re more likely to know who people are,\u201d says Rickles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aging in Place\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The number of hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted-living centers a city provides plays a role in determining whether it is a best place to live. But other key attributes, like a city\u2019s social isolation risk, access to groceries, and walkability, are equally relevant.<\/p>\n

Susann Crawford, a senior vice president at Caring.com, says aging-friendly cities offer amenities that will bolster residents\u2019 quality of life and extend their health span.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we rate a good place, we try to ensure a true higher-quality lifestyle to make sure that people can have a longevity of [available resources], not just for a short time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silver Spring Village is a prime example of how a city\u2019s resources can help foster wellness among older adults. For a starting annual fee of $200, the nonprofit organizes social outings for members, from museum trips to shows at the local theater. Village volunteers provide hands-on support, from medical note-taking to transportation to the grocery store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
Members of the Silver Spring Village enjoy a boating outing. <\/figcaption>

Silver Spring Village, Inc<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOur focus is on sustaining a robust network of neighbors helping neighbors, to provide the kinds of practical support that allow older adults to continue living as independently as possible in their own homes and communities,\u201d Doug Gaddis, executive director of Silver Spring Village, tells Fortune.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

There are more than 300 communities nationwide that use this \u2018village\u2019 model\u2014Montgomery County, which includes Silver Spring, is home to nearly 30. \u201cIt\u2019s not professionals stepping in. It\u2019s people down the street. It\u2019s your neighbors who are also part of the village,\u201d Gaddis says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What Makes a City \u201cWell\u201d?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Experts say that all generations are increasingly drawn to places that support their health beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar health care model.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sharecare has surveyed over 5 million Americans to date to calculate a city\u2019s Community Well-Being Index, which Fortune<\/em> factored into its analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that health isn\u2019t just what\u2019s happening inside your body,\u201d says Rickles. \u201cIt\u2019s your social connections, your perceptions of safety, and there\u2019s a lot that goes into what makes a city well.\u201d The index is a \u201cperson-centric\u201d metric and considers social determinants of health, such as access to transportation, green spaces, parks, libraries, and community.<\/p>\n

Young people in particular want to put down roots in accessible communities. \u201cThey aren\u2019t outspoken about the yard and the white picket fence. They\u2019re outspoken about walkability and the autonomy they could have by being able to meet the needs of their life within a 15- to 20-minute walk from their home,\u201d Wesolowski says.<\/p>\n

How connected people feel\u2014particularly amid a continuing loneliness epidemic\u2014is a critical pillar of wellness.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially the folks who are aging remember a time when neighbors knew one another. They cared for each other, and you didn\u2019t need to think too hard about it,\u201d Aviv says. \u201cSocial infrastructure is not frivolous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe the most comforting feature of her hometown, is that Aviv has a neighbor or family member to lean on if she needs support: \u201cI can\u2019t think of a more connected, meaningful way of living for me and my family.\u201d\u2002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[ad_2]
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ad_1] When 51-year-old Pazit Aviv walks her dog in her Silver Spring, Md., neighborhood, it takes an extra 30 minutes as she inevitably gets lost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":246720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}