With the COVID-19 pandemic making birthing more stressful than usual and the average conventional delivery costing over $10,000, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2020’s Best & Worst States to Have a Baby.
To determine the most ideal places in the U.S. for parents and their newborns, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 32 key measures of cost, health care accessibility and baby-friendliness.
The data set ranges from hospital conventional-delivery charges to annual average infant-care costs to pediatricians per capita.
Nevada is ranked #42 among the worst states. The #1 state to have a baby is Massachusetts.
Here some other information found from the study:
- Mississippi has the lowest average annual cost for early child care, $4,060, which is 3.9 times lower than in the District of Columbia, the highest at $15,860.
- Alaska has the lowest share of childbirths with low birth weight, 5.85 percent, which is 2.1 times lower than in Mississippi, the highest at 12.12 percent.
- The District of Columbia has the most obstetricians and gynecologists (per 100,000 residents), 26, which is 13 times more than in Louisiana, the fewest at 2.
- Massachusetts has the highest parental leave policy score, 160, while 9 states, such as Alabama, Michigan and South Dakota, tie for the lowest at 0.
The full report can be viewed here.
