Parenting magazine on Thursday named Ann Arbor in its list of 10 Best Cities for Families, based on criteria including the economy, safety and education.

Ann Arbor placed fourth, behind Arlington, Va., (1) Austin, Texas, (2) and Madison, Wis. (3)

For the rankings, Parenting first surveyed moms across the country to determine which factors were most important to their decision on where to live. Their choices were (in order of priority): quality of schools; affordability and availability of quality housing; low crime rates; job availability and growth; number of registered sex offenders; recreational opportunities; quality/quantity of pediatricians/family physicians; commute time and distance; proximity to a good children's hospital; quality/quantity of childcare facilities and preschools; and air quality.

Then they compiled a list of the top 100 cities by population, gathered information in 52 categories for those cities, and averaged the findings, giving the greatest weight to education, economy and safety.

The magazine's writeup of Ann Arbor focused on education, saying "This smallish yet sophisticated city is home to the venerable University of Michigan, but it excels at educating children, too."

It included one inaccurate piece of information — that Ann Arbor spends $17,140 per student on education. That number came from the National Center for Education Statistics, and it includes capital outlay in the total figure. The per pupil expenditure in Ann Arbor, according to district officials, is $9,325.

The article also noted that other surveys have recognized Ann Arbor for being a green city and for being walkable.

Jen Eyer is on the Community Team at AnnArbor.com. She leads the Parenting and Pets sections, and writes feature stories, blog posts and opinion pieces. She can be reached at 734-623-2577 or jeneyer@annarbor.com.