Massachusetts Named Best State For Raising...What? Chickens? Pot?

Once again, our state of Massachusetts delivers the goods, coming in ranked #1 in a nationwide survey.

According to the good people at WalletHub, Massachusetts is the best state to raise a family. WalletHub compared all 50 states using certain metrics such as fewest violent crimes per capita, most affordable housing, lowest separation and divorce rate, lowest child care cost, lowest % of families in poverty, and more.

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WalletHub looked at five key indicators in their study:

Family Fun
Health & Safety
Education & Child Care
Affordability; and
Socio-economics

The end result of the study was if you want to raise a healthy, happy, stable family, you can do no better than making the Bay State your home.

In addition to ranking #1 in the overall standings, Massachusetts also ranked highly in other areas. Massachusetts can lay claim to having the fourth-lowest infant mortality rate. The Bay State also came in at #9 and #10 for family fun and health & safety, respectively.

And we residents of Massachusetts have something else to be proud of: the state came in at #3 for child care and education. Here's something interesting: Massachusetts has the fifth-highest percentage nationwide of residents ages 12 years and older who are fully vaccinated.

Massachusetts was not the only New England state to fare well in WalletHub's study, no sir, uh-uh, no way. Vermont placed #3 in overall rankings, New Hampshire came in at #6, and Connecticut was ranked at #7. All New England states placed in the Top 20.

Rounding out the top five states, New York placed just behind Massachusetts at #2, Minnesota was ranked #4, and Nebraska came in at #5. Meanwhile, the worst states to raise a family? The bottom three states: Louisiana at #48, New Mexico at #49, and coming in last place at #50--Mississippi.

There's lots more cool data and stats to look at in finding out how exactly WalletHub ranked each state. For the full report and results, visit their website here.

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