Connecticut Is The 10th Best State To Raise A Family: New Report

CONNECTICUT — A new report names Connecticut as the 10th best state to raise a family.

Analysts for personal finance website WalletHub compared each state across 50 key indicators of family-friendliness, incorporating factors like the median annual family income, housing affordability, health care quality, crime rate, and school quality.

Here's how Connecticut scored, category-by-category, with "1" being best and "25" being average:

• Overall rank – 10th
• 27th – Percentage of Families with Young Children
• 8th – Infant-Mortality Rate
• 20th – Median Annual Family Income (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
• 3rd – Violent Crimes per Capita
• 14th – Percentage of Families in Poverty
• 1st – Unemployment Rate
• 16th – Separation & Divorce Rate

In order to determine the best states to raise a family, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five key dimensions: 1. Family Fun, 2. Health & Safety, 3. Education & Child Care, 4. Affordability and 5. Socio-economics. Read more about the methodology and the relevant weighted metrics here.

Connecticut's lowest ranking — 27th — was for "Family Fun." California came in first there, and West Virginia last.

WalletHub ranked neighboring Massachusetts as the top state to raise a family, also naming it N0. 1 for Education & Child Care, and Affordability. New Mexico came in last overall.

According to Monica Oxford, the executive director of the Barnard Center for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and director of Parent-Child Relationship Programs; Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing at the Washington University School of Nursing, the state plays a bigger role in child's well-being than you may think:

"Family life is deeply shaped by the state in which one resides. According to the 2024 Well-Being Index by State, everything from transportation and pollution regulation to taxation, childcare quality and access, and the licensing of healthcare professionals is determined by state policies. These policies are far-reaching and influence nearly every aspect of family life, ultimately affecting the overall well-being of its members," Oxford said.