Having A Child In The United States: The Best And Worst States To Have A Baby, According To A Nationwide Analysis

A finance website has conducted a comprehensive nationwide analysis of the all 50 states and the District of Columbia to find out what the best and worst states are to have a baby in the United States. The rankings are based on three categories, namely delivery budget, health care and baby-friendliness.

Vermont topped the list as the best state to have a baby while Mississippi emerged at the bottom spot and was ranked the worst state to have a baby. WalletHub evaluated the categories based on 17 more metrics for each category such as hospital cesarean-delivery charges, cost of living, infant-mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, parental leave policy, and number of child centers per capita.

Vermont was number one in terms of its health care rank. It was tied with the District of Columbia for the most midwives and obstetrician/gynecologists per capita and was the 4^th best state in terms of its number of most pediatricians and family doctors per capita.

According to Time, the state of Vermont placed 7^th overall when it came to baby-friendliness. Among other states, Vermont led the United States in having the most child-care centers per capita. The state of Mississippi was one of the best in this particular metric, garnering a rank of 5^th.

USA Today reported that while Mississippi was ranked last overall based on all categories, it was the ranked first for being the state that had the lowest average annual infant-care costs. In contrast to Mississippi, the District of Columbia was found to have the highest average annual infant-care costs.

California was the top state in terms of having the lowest infant mortality rate across the United States, with Alabama recording the highest infant mortality rate. North Dakota was found to have the lowest hospital conventional-delivery charges across the country while Maryland had the lowest hospital cesarean-delivery charges.