Before we begin, though, here’s a closer look at exactly what was factored into each of the major categories the study examined:
• Family Fun: Number of attractions, share of kids who live in neighborhoods with a park or playground, and share of families with young children
• Health and Safety: Crime, water and air quality, healthcare, infant mortality rate, major climate disasters and share of children who go to safe schools
• Education and Childcare: Good public schools, graduation rates, daycare quality, parental leave in the workforce, number of kids who go to extracurricular work and number of children who participate in community service or volunteer work
• Affordability: Housing affordability, credit scores, mortgage debts, non-mortgage debts and paid family leave
• Socio-economics: Divorce rates, length of marriage, share of two-parent families, wealth gap, share of families living in poverty and/or receive food stamps, employment rates and job opportunities, and foreclosure rate
With all of this in mind, here are the 15 states that fared the worst.