Massachusetts Ranks As The BEST State To Raise A Family- And Here’s Why
How lucky are we? We have sports teams that, in general, give us reason to watch. We have world class hospitals and colleges. We have the Atlantic Ocean, moutains and…
How lucky are we? We have sports teams that, in general, give us reason to watch. We have world class hospitals and colleges. We have the Atlantic Ocean, moutains and a cool accent. And now this... Massachusetts ranks as THE best state to raise a family. Recent findings from wallethub.com,confirm what many of us have known all along. Wallethub compared the 50 states "across 51 key indicators of family-friendliness." The data gathered ranged from median annual income to unemployment rate, and housing affordability.
When you think of an ideal place to live, you likely think of housing, schools, healthcare, and family fun. Massachusetts is known for our hospitals and schools. The affordability factor surprised me. But, when you take into account annual income, it figures out. We have mountains and beaches easily accessible, lots of historic places to visit and world class restaurants. All that adds to the family fun factor.
Let's dig a little deeper
The Tweet
The Map That Ranks The States
All 6 New England States Rank in the Top 20
Clearly, New England is a great place to raise kids.
| 1 | Massachusetts | 66.14 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 22 |
| 2 | Minnesota | 62.07 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 5 |
| 3 | New York | 61.11 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 46 |
| 4 | North Dakota | 59.60 | 32 | 16 | 1 | 16 | 1 |
| 5 | Vermont | 59.27 | 46 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 2 |
| 6 | New Hampshire | 58.17 | 36 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 8 |
| 7 | New Jersey | 58.14 | 23 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 25 |
| 8 | Nebraska | 57.95 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 24 | 6 |
| 9 | Iowa | 57.05 | 31 | 14 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| 10 | Connecticut | 57.03 | 29 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 31 |
| 11 | Rhode Island | 56.95 | 27 | 4 | 19 | 4 | 27 |
| 12 | Washington | 56.30 | 8 | 23 | 31 | 5 | 19 |
| 13 | Illinois | 55.49 | 4 | 29 | 25 | 11 | 45 |
| 14 | South Dakota | 55.45 | 30 | 12 | 11 | 25 | 7 |
| 15 | Utah | 55.25 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 33 | 4 |
| 16 | Maine | 55.01 | 45 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
The Methodology
To determine which states are the best to raise a family, WalletHub used these key factors
1. Family Fun
2. Health & Safety
3. Education & Child Care
4. Affordability
5. Socio-economics.
WalletHub reported they evaluated the above factors "using 51 relevant metrics.Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for family life." For the final tally, they determined each state's weighted average across all metrics to come up with the overall score.
(Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
This Isn't Our First Rodeo
One year ago, we were here. This is the second year in a row that our beautiful state has taken top honors. According to US News, Massachusetts high marks are primarily attibuted to education, health and safety, and affordibility. New York took the number 2 spot last year, and this year lost a rank, as Minnesota took #2.
(Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images for Boston Children's Hospital)
