Iowans have always quietly believed their cities are great places to raise a family.

A newly-released study seems to have confirmed that belief.

Des Moines and Cedar Rapids have been ranked on The Children’s Environmental Index as two of the top 20 cities to raise children in.

The index, released by Zero Population Growth, rates 207 U.S. cities on a broad range of social and physical conditions that influence a child’s development.

Cedar Rapids ranked 11th and Des Moines ranked 16th.

“Cities were scored on a scale of zero to 10, according to how well they performed on 14 indicators including education, crime, pollution and percent of children living in poverty. Cities were also ranked in relation to other cities,” said Nadia Steinzor, communication associate for the organization.

Cities with high child-poverty-rates tend to have a high proportion of teen births, which in turn leads to high dropout rates, Steinzor said.

The index indicates there are drastic disparities in dropout rates across the country. Of the 207 cities studied, the average dropout rate in 1991 was 13.8 percent. The highest was in Santa Ana, Calif., at 36.7 percent, and the lowest was Irvine, Calif., at 2.1 percent.