Location, location, location. It’s important when deciding where to set down roots not only for you but for your family. Recently, a study by WalletHub conducted a survey for 2018 ranking the “Best & Worst States to Raise a Family.”
Raising a stable, healthy, secure, family requires a variety of factors to consider. “WalletHub compared the 50 states across 42 key indicators of family-friendliness.” Their “data set ranges from median family salary to housing affordability to unemployment rate,” according to the survey. Below are a few interesting findings on where our great state of Texas ranks and the influential factors to consider when choosing a place to settle down, along with the methodology behind it all.
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Among the rankings of where Texas stands based on various categories according to Wallet Hub, with 1 being the best and 24 being average. Below is how we look across the board for raising a family in our great state compared to others:
- 2nd – % of Families with Young Kids
- 7th – Child-Care Costs (Adjusted for Median Family Income)
- 20th – Infant-Mortality Rate
- 20th – Median Family Salary (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 34th – Violent-Crime Rate
- 43rd – % of Families in Poverty
- 27th – Housing Affordability
- 23rd – Unemployment Rate
- 26th – Separation & Divorce Rate
Some other interesting results of the findings show California as number one in “Family Fun.” Vermont is number one in the “Health & Safety” category. “Education and Childcare” ranks North Dakota as best. Rhode Island leads the pack as number one in the “Affordability” rank, and North Dakota also number one in the “Socio-economics” rank. For the complete report visit
wallethub.com.
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A panel of experts was asked to share their thoughts on key questions to ask when considering where to lay down roots. Since each state has its own unique staple and framework that works for each family it’s important to look at the makeup of each place you might be considering for raising a family.
For instance, some factors the experts mention to ask yourself include the following:
- Good Public School System
- Universal Pre-K program
- Does the neighborhood have sidewalks
- Parks
- A Local Library
- Health Care Access
- Paid Leave
- Proximity to External Family
- Affordable Family Entertainment
- Transportation
- Affordable Housing
- Programs for Special Needs Children
- Safety
- Economy and Unemployment Rate
These are just some factors to take into consideration when deciding where to call a place home. So many things come into play, and each family has different values and will prioritize their list differently. But, it’s safe to say that many value safety, a good school system, jobs, cost of living, childcare availability, to be among the most important factors in making the decision of where to raise their family according to some experts.
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There is a methodology to all this information and how it was concluded and sorted out in this study. A variety of factors came into play to determine where each state ranked on the list. As mentioned previously, five key factors were used: Family Fun, Health & Safety, Education & Child Care, Affordability, and Socio-economics.
“Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for family life,” according to Wallet Hub. “Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.”
Factors such as the number of attractions and fitness and recreational sports centers were calculated under “Family Fun.” Under “Health and Safety” some of the factors taken into effect included the number of children’s hospitals, air pollution, water quality, and violent crimes to name a few. For “Education and Childcare” things taken into consideration included quality of public schools, day care quality, and graduation rates, among others. In the “Affordability” category, housing cost, median credit score, median family income, and paid family leave were measured. Lastly, the “Socio-economics” category ranked separation and divorce rate, share of families living below poverty, share of families receiving food stamps, and unemployment rate.
For complete details on this study and to learn more about the breakdown visit wallethub.com.
