With about 11 percent of Americans having moved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report “2022’s Best & Worst States to Raise a Family.”
To determine the best states in which to put down family roots, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 51 key indicators of family-friendliness. The data set ranges from the median annual family income to housing affordability to the unemployment rate.
The best states for families were Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire. Connecticut, Washington, North Dakota and New Jersey.
The worst states were Georgia, Nevada, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi.
Best versus worst highlights were:
- Utah has the lowest separation and divorce rate, 15.74 percent, which is 1.7 times lower than in Nevada, where it is highest at 26.07 percent.
- New Hampshire has the lowest share of families living in poverty, 4.60 percent, which is 3.4 times lower than in Mississippi, where it is highest at 15.50 percent.
- South Dakota has the lowest average annual cost of early childcare (as a share of median family income), 7.22 percent, which is 1.8 times lower than in Nebraska, where it is highest at 13.19 percent.
- Maine has the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), 1.09, which is 7.7 times fewer than in Alaska, the state with the most at 8.38.