The Carolinas Rank Among The Worst States to Raise a Family

By
Scott Jensen
-
1216

With families looking for a fresh start once the COVID-19 pandemic dies down and moving becomes practical, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best & Worst States to Raise a Family.

To determine the best states in which to put down family roots, the site compared the 50 states across 52 key indicators of family-friendliness. The data set ranges from the median annual family income to housing affordability to the unemployment rate.

The Carolinas were ranked among the worst in the nation, with North Carolina coming in at #38 and South Carolina ranking among the bottom 10 at #43.

Best States for Families

Overall Rank  State Total Score  ‘Family Fun’  ‘Health & Safety’  ‘Education & Child Care’  ‘Affordability’  ‘Socio-economics’ 
1 Massachusetts 60.88 9 10 3 6 21
2 Minnesota 60.57 14 5 8 11 5
3 North Dakota 60.10 33 7 2 14 1
4 New York 59.80 2 21 6 5 47
5 Vermont 59.16 40 1 5 27 4
6 New Hampshire 58.85 31 3 12 10 3
7 New Jersey 58.76 18 26 1 1 19
8 Washington 58.46 8 11 23 4 16
9 Connecticut 55.86 29 18 4 2 28
10 Utah 55.48 13 20 16 34 2
11 Nebraska 55.47 21 9 14 23 10
12 Iowa 55.37 34 8 11 15 8
13 South Dakota 55.17 30 16 10 20 7
14 Wisconsin 54.44 20 15 15 18 14
15 Colorado 53.41 7 24 27 29 12
16 Illinois 53.13 3 31 18 24 45
17 Virginia 51.75 28 13 17 19 18
18 Maine 51.72 46 4 9 31 15
19 Montana 51.61 39 14 7 46 6
20 Hawaii 51.37 16 2 26 33 36
21 Oregon 51.12 10 6 37 22 22
22 Maryland 50.36 23 23 13 12 31
23 Pennsylvania 49.94 11 32 28 7 24
24 Rhode Island 49.78 27 25 21 3 43
25 California 49.57 1 40 43 17 42
26 Wyoming 49.08 32 17 19 43 13
27 Missouri 48.86 22 30 24 21 17
28 Texas 46.91 5 37 33 41 38
29 Kansas 46.43 37 42 25 16 11
30 Ohio 45.71 15 29 35 13 41
31 Michigan 45.23 42 22 36 8 25
32 Delaware 45.17 44 27 20 26 32
33 Alaska 44.86 17 19 42 28 34
34 Idaho 44.53 36 12 46 47 9
35 Indiana 44.23 35 41 30 9 23
36 Florida 43.33 6 35 32 49 44
37 Kentucky 43.17 45 28 22 30 35
38 North Carolina 42.69 25 34 29 39 30
39 Tennessee 41.05 24 47 31 42 20
40 Georgia 39.90 26 33 40 38 40
41 Nevada 38.52 4 46 49 50 46
42 Arizona 38.22 12 44 48 48 26
43 South Carolina 37.97 41 38 38 44 27
44 Alabama 36.33 47 36 44 25 39
45 Arkansas 34.83 48 49 34 36 33
46 Oklahoma 34.49 43 48 45 40 37
47 Louisiana 33.83 19 43 47 32 50
48 West Virginia 33.83 50 39 41 37 29
49 Mississippi 29.70 49 50 39 35 48
50 New Mexico 28.95 38 45 50 45 49

Do you agree with the rankings?

What do you think should be done to improve our scores?

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