Best & Worst States to Raise a Family

Raising a healthy, stable family sometimes requires moving to a new state. And the reasons for moving are often similar: career transitions, better schools, financial challenges or a general desire to change settings.

But wants and needs don’t always align in a particular state. For instance, a state might offer a low income-tax rate but have a subpar education system. However, families do not need to make these kinds of tradeoffs. They can avoid such problems by knowing which states offer the best combination of qualities that matter most to parents and their kids.

To help with the evaluation process, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 49 key indicators of family-friendliness. Our data set ranges from median family salary to housing affordability to unemployment rate. Read on for the complete ranking, relocation advice from our panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

Main Findings

Best States for Families

Overall Rank (1 = Best)	State	Total Score	‘Family Fun’ Rank	‘Health & Safety’ Rank	‘Education & Child Care’ Rank	‘Affordability’ Rank	‘Socio-economics’ Rank
1	Minnesota	65.32	13	4	8	8	3
2	Massachusetts	63.58	7	3	3	21	19
3	North Dakota	62.34	35	9	1	10	1
4	Vermont	61.61	44	1	5	24	4
5	New Hampshire	60.90	43	2	6	13	6
6	New York	59.81	2	17	22	3	45
7	Wisconsin	59.29	19	14	16	5	11
8	New Jersey	58.98	26	13	2	2	32
9	Rhode Island	57.29	27	10	17	1	29
10	Nebraska	57.26	21	11	12	23	9
11	South Dakota	57.26	30	7	15	17	7
12	Colorado	56.40	10	21	27	29	8
13	Connecticut	56.33	29	6	4	6	37
14	Washington	55.88	5	30	18	26	17
15	Iowa	55.84	33	18	11	9	12
16	Maine	55.28	46	5	7	30	13
17	Utah	54.99	18	22	24	25	2
18	Illinois	54.57	4	27	23	19	41
19	California	53.90	1	35	44	14	30
20	Virginia	53.55	28	16	13	16	18
21	Pennsylvania	53.49	6	25	30	15	26
22	Missouri	52.51	16	29	21	18	21
23	Oregon	52.39	9	19	34	32	22
24	Montana	52.34	31	20	9	37	10
25	Wyoming	52.01	32	8	10	47	16
26	Kansas	51.64	37	26	19	11	15
27	Ohio	51.27	15	28	26	4	43
28	Hawaii	50.79	25	15	28	39	14
29	Maryland	49.07	23	39	14	20	28
30	Idaho	48.55	42	12	45	40	5
31	Texas	48.48	3	50	35	36	34
32	Michigan	47.43	40	23	38	7	25
33	Indiana	47.25	41	33	31	12	20
34	Delaware	45.40	45	24	20	28	39
35	Kentucky	45.26	34	34	25	22	36
36	Alaska	45.06	14	31	43	27	47
37	Tennessee	45.05	17	38	37	46	23
38	North Carolina	44.45	24	37	29	43	27
39	Florida	44.40	11	40	36	49	44
40	Arizona	42.97	12	36	47	48	31
41	Georgia	40.84	22	44	46	35	42
42	Oklahoma	39.73	39	48	40	31	35
43	South Carolina	39.32	38	41	42	42	38
44	Arkansas	38.89	48	47	33	32	24
45	Nevada	38.56	8	45	50	50	46
46	Alabama	37.67	47	42	39	34	40
47	West Virginia	37.05	50	32	32	41	33
48	Louisiana	36.14	20	49	48	38	49
49	Mississippi	32.40	49	46	41	44	48
50	New Mexico	31.69	36	43	49	45	50

 

Ask the Experts

Not all states are created equal. Some are more conducive to pleasant family life than others. With those differences in mind, we asked a panel of experts to share their thoughts on the following key questions:

1. What should families consider when choosing a place to set down roots?
2. To what degree is a child’s development and a family’s quality of life influenced by the state they live in? How?
3. How can authorities make their states more attractive to young families?
4. How might Trump administration policies related to child care and paid family leave affect child and family well-being?
5. In evaluating the best states for families, what are the top five indicators?

Methodology

In order to determine the best states to raise a family, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five key dimensions: 1) Family Fun, 2) Health & Safety, 3) Education & Child Care, 4) Affordability and 5) Socio-economics.

We evaluated those dimensions using 49 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for family life.

Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Family Fun – Total Points: 20

• Share of Families with Young Children: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)
  Note: “Young Children” includes the population aged 0 to 17.
• Number of Attractions: Triple Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Fitness & Recreational Sports Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 0 to 17 Years Who Live in Neighborhoods with a Park or Playground: Full Weight (~3.33 Points)

Health & Safety – Total Points: 20

• Share of Uninsured Children: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
  Note: “Children” includes the population aged 0 to 18.
• Pediatricians per Capita: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Number of Children’s Hospitals per Total Number of Children: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Quality of Public Hospitals: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on public-hospital ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• Infant-Mortality Rate: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Life Expectancy at Birth: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Number of Climate Disasters Causing $1 Billion+ in Damages in Past Decades: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Air Pollution: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Water Quality: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Violent Crimes per Capita: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Property Crimes per Capita: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 6 to 17 Years Who Go to Safe Schools: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 0 to 17 Years Who Live in Supportive Neighborhoods: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 0 to 17 Years Living with Parents Who Have Someone to Turn to for Day-to-Day Emotional Support with Parenting or Raising Children: Full Weight (~1.43 Points)

Education & Child Care – Total Points: 20

• Quality of Public Schools: Double Weight (~4.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “States with the Best & Worst School Systems” ranking.
• Public High School Graduation Rate: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Child Day-Care Services per Capita: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Day-Care Quality: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Child-Care Costs: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
  Note: This metric was adjusted for the median family income.
• Parental Leave: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on parental-leave policy scores from the National Partnership for Women & Families.
• Number of Childcare Workers per Total Number of Children: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 6 to 17 Years Who Participate in School Extracurricular Activities: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 6 to 17 Years Who Participate in Community Service or Volunteer Work: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)

Affordability – Total Points: 20

• Housing Affordability: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
  Note: This metric was calculated as follows: Housing Costs (accounts for both rental and sale prices) / Median Annual Family Income.
• Median Credit Score: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
• Median Mortgage Debt: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the median amount of mortgage debt per adult, as a percentage of median earnings.
• Median Non-Mortgage Debt: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
  Note: This metric measures the median amount of non-mortgage debt per adult, as a percentage of median earnings.
• Share of People Who Save Money for their Children’s College Education: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 0 to 17 Years Whose Family Had Problems Paying for Their Children’s Medical or Health Care Bills During the Past 12 Months: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
• Paid Family Leave: Double Weight (~3.64 Points)
• Retirement Access & Participation: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
  Note: “Retirement” refers to employer-based plans only.
• Median Annual Family Income: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)
  Note: This metric was adjusted for the cost of living.
• Average Annual Family Health Insurance Premium: Full Weight (~1.82 Points)

Socio-economics – Total Points: 20

• Separation & Divorce Rate: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Median Duration of Current Marriage: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Share of Two-Parent Families: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Wealth Gap: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Share of Families Living in Poverty: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Share of Families Receiving Food Stamps: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Underemployment Rate: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Job Security: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
  Note: This metric was calculated as follows: (Number of Employees in 2017 – Number of Employees in 2016) / Number of Employees in 2016
• Job Opportunities: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
  Note: This metric was calculated as follows: Number of Job Openings per Number of Population in Labor Force Minus Unemployed Rate
• Job Satisfaction Score: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)
• Foreclosure Rate: Full Weight (~1.67 Points)

Videos for News Use:

• YouTube (for web embedding National)
• YouTube (for web embedding Minnesota)
• Raw files (for editing into clips)

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, Child Care Aware of America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Council for Community and Economic Research, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Partnership for Women & Families, TransUnion, National Conference of State Legislatures, The Pew Charitable Trusts, United Health Foundation, Indeed, U.S. News & World Report, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, National Climatic Data Center, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Renwood RealtyTrac, Brandwatch, TripAdvisor and WalletHub research.

Image: Evgeny Atamanenko / Shutterstock.com

Community Discussion

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@pioneer989

January 16, 2019

No DC? Huge miss. How is it that you skip a massive government career hub with it's own school system that's bigger than many states?

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@elizabethsmithchavez

January 10, 2019

Whoever did the survey seems to think that "family fun" requires formal (and often expensive) attractions. What about fishing and hiking and beaches and other outdoor opportunities?

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