How to tell a hiring committee that my family lives in the city

Question

How can a job applicant tactfully tell a hiring committee that they particularly want to live in the location where the school is located?

I am applying for a faculty job in the city where my wife's family lives. I would love to move there to be close to her family when she and I have kids.

The school might be concerned that I would take another offer over theirs. I want to communicate that I would be particularly likely to accept their offer if they made one.

What is an appropriate way to communicate this? I want to avoid inserting unnecessary personal information, like my marital status or sexual orientation.

I'm thinking of something like this toward the end of the cover letter: "I am particularly excited about this position for both personal and professional reasons. Most of my family lives in [city] and I would be thrilled to live there."

Answer 1

"I am particularly excited about this position for both personal and professional reasons. Most of my family lives in [city] and I would be thrilled to live there."

That'll do.

And this may indeed matter - from being on recruitment committees in several places that have trouble getting people to move there, signs of interest in the area are helpful.