Is Ann Arbor the best town in Michigan to raise a family?

You couldn't pay me to live anywhere in SE Michigan.  After 20 years on the shores of Lake Michigan, no comparison at all. 

If West side, EGR is definitely safe bet along with Grand Haven, Spring Lake, N. Muskegon to name a few. Don't know that much about the east side.  AA seems to have a bit of the rather arrogant type although I've met more good people there than the former so I think these people are just being pretentious. For investment purposes you really can't go wrong with any of these or the burbs you listed on the E. Side.  All are full of money.

You might want to look into Gross Point(e?) as well. I like Lake Michigan so that's why I chose N. Muskegon.

Minus the weather, I would move back to Ann Arbor in a heartbeat. I live in Evanston now, which is like a poor man's Ann Arbor. The best thing about towns like this is diversity. My son just started Evanston Township High School, and when I pick him up after school, I can't believe that all these very different kids go into this one building and co-exist everyday. My son's best friends are not at all like him socioeconomically or racially. I don't know if you can find that in more suburban towns (nor do I know if Ann Arbor is as diverse). But I guess it depends what you're looking for. Ann Arbor, to me, is the perfect balance of progressiveness, intelligence, good eating establishments (and therefore people who appreciate good food), and year round sports to follow. 

As someone whose lived in both Grand Rapids and South Lyon, here's my advice: Move to the West side if you want to raise a family. Grand Rapids is a booming city that has been built by a few billionaire philanthropists. It's a very safe city as well, I used to live downtown and would go on night distance runs. Nearby town of Holland was named as the second happiest town in America. Plus Lake Michigan is right nearby. Overall the West side would be the absolute best choice if you like beer and raise a more conservative/religious family, although it's still a great place to live even if your not. South Lyon has benefits, but there is a massive drug problem in the schools.

Grand Rapids and it's not even close.

... I'd say that A2 is perfect for a family of eskimos.

or GR!

Born in GR, raised in Charlevoix and Napoleon, Mi, moved to W MI and loved it. Then in '08, economy in auto tanked, so took a job in Houston. This place is a hellhole. Crime, traffic, ghetto-ridden, trashy city, and hot with TOO much diversity for my tastes. No one and I and I mean no one comes to Houston to visit. I can't even get family members to come here. I'm outta here in few years once last kid graduates HS.

I would move back to W MI in a heartbeat but he wife hates the cold.

Lived in small town called Hudsonville, just SW of GR. Very good schools, little to no crime and very affordable housing.

Product of the suburbs.  Have lived in downtown Detroit and Cleveland (med school and fellowship respectively).  

We loved Plymouth, too, when we lived there.

We moved from Portland, OR because of my dad's job (he's an engineer) and were really disappointed with the staunch conservatism from the predominately old people living in the city.  However the schools were great, and as the years passed a lot of people with "new money" so to speak moved in from South Lyon and Plymouth and other surrounding areas into one of the many new subdivisions with huge houses by the high school to raise their families.  One benefit of the the new housing is that Northville, specifically Northville Schools are now increasingly diverse with more families of different backgrounds, especially Indian and Chinese moving in.  Schools are still great, about 40 kids including myself made it to UM (LSA, Engineering, Nursing, Art/Design and even Theatre) from my graduating class, with a couple kids getting to the Ivies. But make no mistake, it is still extremely conservative (I spent all 13 years in Northville Public Schools and never had Martin Luther King Day off).

As with any upper middle class suburb, there is an insane amount of classism, with a huge portion of family's budgets going towards keeping up with the Jones', personal finances be damned.  So the pressure to trade in your Lincoln and upgrade your iPhone every year is everpresent.

Grew up in Bloomfield.
Lived, worked in:
Sault Ste. Marie 
Brighton 
Kalamazoo 
Charlevoix
Saugatuck/Grand Rapids 
Warren/Mt. Clemens 

We just moved this past summer and were SO TORN between the GR/Ada area and Brighton.

AA is great, but for the land we wanted, AA (and parts of GR) were out of our price range.

Ultimately, we chose Brighton because it was affordable (barely) & kept us closer to aging/bad health relatives and more family friends.



 

Well there is Zingermans, Maize and Blue Deli, Pizza Bob's and Blimpy.