Tampa ranks 94 out of 100 cities for raising kids

Add up the fast-food joints, missing children and lack of fun family entertainment, and Tampa comes close to scraping the bottom when it comes to raising children.

Children's Health magazine pegged Tampa at No. 94 of 100 U.S. cities. It came up with the ranking by comparing statistics on more than 30 criteria parents consider vitally important, such as safety, education and cultural attractions.

Orlando and Miami came in at 98 and 99, respectively, and Detroit nailed the bottom.

Burlington, Vt., ranked No. 1.

This list, which was published today, is the first for the national parenting magazine.

How can Tampa move up next time around?

"The safety component is a huge one," said Joel Weber, who conducted the research with Jaclyn Colletti. "The Neighborhood Watch groups really need to step up, and Tampa needs to find those children. [Parents] should make sure they're eating the most nutritious meals possible. Don't swing through the drive-through; plan your meals ahead of time."

At least one Tampa mom said the Big Guava doesn't deserve such a bruising.

"Being from up North, I can tell you life is much easier here," said Heather Lee, 34, who lived in Detroit and Cincinnati before moving to Tampa in 2002. She and her husband, Matt Rossing, are raising three children.

"This is a very family-friendly city. There are so many activities right in our own backyard, and it's not a big expense. We could live anywhere we want, and we wouldn't live anywhere else."

But a Tampa father of five said Tampa's poor showing isn't a surprise.

"Our Tampa isn't the Tampa of my youth," said native Edgar J. Guzman, owner of the Edgar J. Guzman Law Group. "If my practice weren't so rooted here, I would move to a small town like in Vermont to get that feel again. [Tampa] has grown so much that [our] society has completely changed."

Other scores that pushed the city to the bottom were relatively low per-pupil spending and high crime and unemployment rates.

Tampa also was tagged for having prolific fast-food restaurants, high infant mortality, low home-ownership and a dearth of family attractions - despite Lowry Park Zoo's rating as the No. 1 kid zoo in the country.

It had among the highest rankings for all the cities for numbers of sex offenders and missing children per capita.

"Most parents say these are among the first things they want to know," Weber said.

Tampa fared slightly better on cost of living and the percentage of adults who have advanced degrees or high school equivalency diplomas.

Burlington, by contrast, was near the top in public-school funding, graduation rates, advanced degrees and median family income. Burlington also has the fewest fast food restaurants per-capita in the country, leading the researchers to conclude it has one of the healthiest populations.

Still, Lee doesn't pine for Burlington, and she doesn't put a lot of stock in such lists.

"It's all relative, like traffic," she said. "Traffic is bad, but it's not as bad as other places."

Find the complete list of 100 cities at www.childrenshealthmag.com/bestplaces.