CT Among Nation's Best States to Raise a Family

/

Connecticut is a top ten state to raise a family, a recent analysis has found.  The state ranks 9th, and is one of four New England states earning a place in the top ten.  Massachusetts ranked number two, Vermont was fourth and New Hampshire was fifth.  Rhode Island was 14th and Maine was 18th.  The leading state was Minnesota.

wallethub.png

The financial website WalletHub compared the 50 states across 50 key indicators of family-friendliness. The data included ranges from median family salary to housing affordability to unemployment rate, divided into four categories:  Health & Safety, Education & Child Care, Affordability and Family Fun.

Connecticut ranked 26th in Family Fun, but was 2nd in Education & Child Care, 5th in Affordability, and 9th in Health & Safety.  Among the sub-categories in which Connecticut was highly ranked was “fewest violent crimes per capita,” where the state ranked fifth. 

connecticut-state-map.png

Also earning a place in the top ten overall were North Dakota, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska and Washington State. At the bottom of the list were Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico.

New York led the way in Family Fun, Vermont in Health & Safety, North Dakota in Education & Child Care, and New Jersey in Affordability.

Data used to create this ranking, according to WalletHub, 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, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Other sources include the 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, Zendrive, TripAdvisor and WalletHub research.