Wheeling chosen as top 10 in country for families by magazine

Wheeling's diverse population is one of the reasons Family Circle magazine chose it as one of the 10 best towns for families.

The village is featured in a story in the magazine's August issue.

"We're looking for towns that are great for families, have a manageable cost of living, good jobs, great schools," said Paula Chin, senior editor at Family Circle.

This year, the magazine was also looking for towns that did something for the environment.

Wheeling was touted as spending $2 million since 2002 to convert five vacant lots into small parks.

Chin said the publication chooses towns that have a population between 15,000 and 150,000 and median incomes around $65,000. Wheeling's population is 33,786 and the median income is $68,419.

The other towns on this year's list include: South Burlington, Vt.; Oro Valley, Ariz.; Brunswick, Ohio; Shoreview, Minn.; Rocklin, Calif.; Webster Groves, Mo.; Broken Arrow, Okla.; Royal Palm Beach, Fla.; and Ankeny, Iowa.

Patrick Horcher, acting village president, said Wheeling is fortunate to have diversity in town that residents can take advantage of.

"There's enough jobs and there's enough economic diversity within our area," he said. "We're right in the middle of a bunch of upper-scale communities. We've got our nice, little community here where you can come and start a family."

The Family Circle article quotes Brian and Stephanie Smith, who live on a street with families from China, India, Korea and Russia.

"That's something that definitely stood out with Wheeling," Chin said. "That's really important to us."

The article also points out Buffalo Grove High School, which was recently named a Blue Ribbon school.

"We look forward every year to doing this (list)," Chin said. "We like hearing from people about what makes their places great. We're just looking to tell our readers, 'If you're considering moving, these are some of the places to go.'"