Massachusetts Named Best State To Raise A Family, According To New Ranking

BOSTON (CBS) -- Americans can't do any better than Massachusetts when it comes to picking the right place to raise a family, according to a new ranking.

WalletHub put the Bay State No. 1 on its list of "Best States For Families," which evaluated family-friendliness with indicators ranging from income to housing affordability to how well a state is handling COVID-19.

Massachusetts received high scores for affordability, education and child care, health and safety and "family fun." More specifically, some of the state's strengths recognized by the report were parental leave policies, public school quality and children's hospitals per capita. Massachusetts also had one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the country, but did get dinged for high child care costs.

Rounding out the Top 5 were New York, Vermont, Minnesota and Nebraska. New Hampshire came in sixth, with Maine ranking 17th.

Mississippi was ranked the worst state for families, according to WalletHub.

Click here to read the full report.