Poway

Known as "The City in the Country", Poway offers larger home lots, extensive hiking trails, a beautiful lake and gorgeous golf courses. Poway in 2014 made the list of the top 20 best California municipalities in which to raise a family, as rated by WalletHub.com. Based on categories such as "Family Life and Fun," "Education, Health and Safety," "Affordability" and "Socioeconomic Environment," Poway came in 17th out of 240 cities.

Poway, which describes itself as “the city in the country,” is both rural and cosmopolitan. Proof positive of its unique claim is that its proudly boasts of having over 60 miles of equestrian and hiking trails. And having horses on your property is a rule rather than an exception. So it should come as no surprise that it is the only city in North County to host a national rodeo each year.

Poway is also home to the rich and famous with many current and past baseball and football stars calling Poway home. They include Tony Gwynn, the perennial batting title winner of the National Baseball League, and Randy Jones, a former Cy Young Winner. Plus, Poway is home to barons of industry, who live in palatial hilltop mansions. Here too are affordable, family-orientated residential neighborhoods as well a few mobile home parks catering to senior citizens.

A real feather in Poway’s hat is that it is also nationally acclaimed for having the top school district in the State of California year after year and is one of the top school districts in the nation. And their impressive 815-seat Poway Center for the Performing Arts is touted for its top entertainment.

Poway is, without a doubt, where families want to raise their children. So as you might expect, Poway is a very family-oriented community with lots of fun kid-friendly places to dine and lots of things for kids to do. The North County inland city ranked 11th in the state in the Education, Health and Safety category, but just 160th for Family Life and Fun, according to WalletHub.