Overview
- WalletHub evaluated all 50 states across five categories—Family Fun, Health and Safety, Education and Child Care, Affordability, and Socio-economics—using 50 indicators drawn from sources including the Census Bureau, BLS, NCES and HUD.
- Massachusetts ranked first overall, buoyed by No. 1 public schools, the highest rate of children with health insurance, low infant mortality, strong job security and high median incomes.
- New Mexico placed 50th, with low marks in education and child care and socioeconomics; experts note the state’s 2025 no-cost childcare policy likely was too recent to affect this year’s results.
- The top 10 are largely in the Northeast and Midwest, led by Massachusetts, Minnesota and North Dakota, with Wisconsin, Nebraska, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Illinois and Maine also placing highly.
- With the USDA estimating up to $320,000 to raise a child to 18, reporters underscore affordability trade-offs, including separate findings that put annual child-rearing costs in Massachusetts around $44,000.