7:24 a.m.
Wednesday, August 11, 2021 7:24 am

WalletHub compared the 50 states and t(Londolozi Blog image)

With the average birth costing around $4,500 for mothers with insurance, the personal-finance website WalletHub on Monday released its report on 2021's Best and Worst States to Have a Baby.

Four New England states ranked in the Top Ten with Massachusetts in first, New Hampshire in fourth, Vermont at No. 5 and Connecticut No. 7.

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 31 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.

Having a Baby in New Hampshire (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

• 2^nd - Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges
• 2^nd - Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges
• 2^nd - Infant Mortality Rate
• 2^nd - Rate of Low Birth-Weight
• 19^th - Midwives & OB-GYNs per Capita
• 4^th - Pediatricians & Family Medicine Physicians per Capita
• 16^th - Child-Care Centers per Capita
• 27^th - Parental-Leave Policy Score
• 9^th - Positive COVID-19 Testing Rate in the Past Week

For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-have-a-baby/6513