Having a Baby? Connecticut’s a Great Place, Data Shows

If having a baby is on your agenda, Connecticut is among the best places to be.  The state ranks in the top ten, as do four other New England states.

The financial website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 key measures of cost, health care accessibility, as well as baby- and family-friendliness. The data included in the analysis ranges from hospital conventional-delivery charges to annual average infant-care costs to pediatricians per capita.

The top ten:  Vermont, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah.

Among the factors contributing to Connecticut’s ranking:  the state was ranked first in share of nationally accredited child-care centers and the current status of the Medicaid expansion decision, eighth in the share of children aged 9-35 months who received developmental screening using a parent-completed screening tool, eighth in infant mortality rate and ninth in maternal mortality rate, and tenth in share of children with all seven recommended vaccines. 

Connecticut also ranked eighth in the number of midwives and obstetrician-gynecologists per capita, 12th in the number of fertility clinics per capita, and 20th in the number of pediatricians and family doctors per capita.  The state was in the middle of the pack in other categories: 20th in the quality of pediatric neonatology facilities and 31st in the quality of women’s hospitals, according to the data considered by WalletHub.

At the end of the ratings spectrum, Connecticut’s birth rate was 48th among the states, the cost of a babysitter or nanny was 44th, and the average annual cost of early child care ranked 46th in the U.S.