The Best (And Worst) States to Raise a Family

If you find yourself in the rare position of being able to pick anywhere in the country to settle down and raise a family, you should choose … North Dakota, where the median income is around $55,000. That’s according to a study by WalletHub released this week. The study compiled data on various family-friendly factors to rank all 50 states and the District of Columbia — ultimately concluding that the state many of us associate with roaming buffalo is also really great for families. New Mexico, where the median income is around $43,000, landed at No. 51.

The 2017 Best and Worst States to Raise a Family study looked at 40 indicators to rank states in the categories of family fun, health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, and socioeconomics. No one state came out on top in all categories. The most affordable state for families, for instance, is Iowa — taking into account the cost of housing, median credit score, credit utilization, debt, savings, employer-based retirement plans, and median family income. New Hampshire, Alaska, Maryland, and North Dakota have the lowest percentages of families below the poverty line, while Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Alabama have the highest. Adjusted for the cost of living, families in Wyoming have the highest median salary, and families in Hawaii have the lowest (possibly because that state also has the second-least affordable housing in the country).

“Most families don’t look at this and say, ‘Where should we live? Let’s live in North Dakota because it came out well in the survey,’ ” Dr. Laura Markham, a psychologist and founder of Aha! Parenting, told Yahoo. “They say, ‘I may not get a job in North Dakota. My mother lives in Texas, and she can watch the grandkids some of the time.'”

According to these statistics, D.C. residents have it pretty bad by several measures. Our nation’s capitol is the worst for violent crime per capita, divorce rate, affordable housing, and childcare costs. The fact that many of that area’s wealthier families choose to live in nearby Maryland and Virginia skews those numbers, but they also have probably based that decision on those factors, making this a chicken-and-egg scenario.

The numbers are interesting, but they may not all have an impact on your life. “I don’t think you’re more likely to get divorced if you move to a place with a high divorce rate,” Markham says.

Utah and North Dakota are the top states in the study’s socioeconomics category, which includes divorce rate, share of two-parent families, share of families receiving food stamps, paid family leave, unemployment, underemployment, the wealth gap, the foreclosure rate, job security, and job opportunities. If you’re looking for the best in education and childcare, however, head to the Northeast, because New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts top that list.

“When it comes to education, states and local communities have great sway over standards, and state tax policy has an important influence,” Shelley K. White, assistant professor of public health and sociology at Simmons College, told WalletHub. “For instance, some states provide more holistic early intervention and special education services than others.”

There’s more to life — particularly to childhood — than money, safety, and education, which is where the family fun category comes into play. It takes into account the number of attractions, fitness and recreational sports centers per capita, good weather, share of families with young children, average commute time, and arcades per capita. So, maybe arcades aren’t the most contemporary measure of a fun town, but they do probably say something about how much a place values entertaining its youth. Likewise, when a state has a low percentage of families with young children, that’s a sign that it hasn’t prioritized things like affordable childcare and family leave. That’s something to consider when you learn that West Virginia has the fewest families with kids in the country.

These are all statewide averages, and Markham points out that most parents considering moving to a new place look at neighborhood statistics instead. Where the rankings may have the biggest impact, however, is in terms of family leave and minimum wage laws.

Rather than looking at the overall ranking of WalletHub’s study, you may find insight by drilling down to some of the numbers that went into it and evaluating which factors are specifically important to you and your family. When it comes to childcare costs and the decision of whether one parent should stay home, Markham advises parents to discuss the compared cost of living and job prospects of a location, as well as the proximity to other family members.

“Economics absolutely matter for families, but I think that it’s such an individual equation,” Markham says. “Does it matter that the parents have less stress in their life? Yes. How can parents be in a good mood when they’re working two jobs?”

Here’s the full list, courtesy of WalletHub. Where does your state rank?

1 North Dakota
2 New Hampshire
3 Vermont
4 Minnesota
5 Nebraska
6 Massachusetts
7 New Jersey
8 Iowa
9 Connecticut
10 South Dakota
11 Wisconsin
12 Utah
13 Kansas
14 Wyoming
15 Colorado
16 Delaware
17 Virginia
18 Rhode Island
19 Illinois
20 Maine
21 Montana
22 Washington
23 Indiana
24 New York
25 Missouri
26 Maryland
27 Pennsylvania
28 California
29 Texas
30 Ohio
31 North Carolina
32 Michigan
33 Hawaii
34 Idaho
35 Oregon
36 Kentucky
37 Tennessee
38 Arkansas
39 Oklahoma
40 Florida
41 South Carolina
42 Alabama
43 West Virginia
44 Georgia
45 Arizona
46 Alaska
47 Nevada
48 Louisiana
49 District of Columbia
50 Mississippi
51 New Mexico

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