Whether you’re moving to a new state because a job pulled you there, or you’re moving your family there to seek a better quality of life, certain factors determine if it’s the best place to raise that family.
The decision can be a tough one. Each year, the personal finance resource MoneyRates.com produces a comprehensive study on the best places to raise a family.
To do it, MoneyRates.com measures eight different types of data, “revealing stark regional differences that helped us identify the best states for raising children.”
A strong showing of Massachusetts earned the Bay State the number 4 slot for 2020, moving up 10 spots from last year’s ranking.
“Massachusetts benefited from ranking first in access to daycare, a new category that was added for 2020,” said the report. “Massachusetts also finished in the top ten in academic performance, access to student checking accounts and neighborhood amenities. As was the case with Northeastern states in general, its chief downfalls related to costs: Massachusetts is one of the ten most costly states, both overall and for public-college tuition.”
Among the many wide differences in the findings, MoneyRates.com reported that the average combined test scores for eighth graders across three different subjects are about 10 percent higher in Massachusetts than they are in Alabama, nearly the “worst” state for raising a family.
The factors and sources used to rank states for this study are: academic performance; availability of youth/student checking accounts; overall affordability; college affordability; crime safety; access to daycare; child health: and kid-friendly neighborhood amenities.
Read the full study here.
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