Utah is #1 for raising families, right? No?!!!

(Family)  

So, Utah is the #1 place for raising a family, right? Actually NO. The people at Wallet Hub do these surveys all the time and the latest one was the Best and Worst States to Raise a Family. This isn’t their opinion. They did a study to evaluate each state based on affordability, share of families with young kids, quality of local schools and things like healthcare, fitness and recreational sports centers along with separation and divorce rates. When you factor in all of that, Utah ranks #15. Massachusetts is #1 followed by Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Vermont.  

For some reason, New York always floats to the top of these studies. I only know a few people from New York and what bugs me when they do well in any survey is that New Yorkers always expect their state to do well.  "Well, of course.  New York is wonderful".  Whatever! 

It’s funny that North Dakota is #4 on the list. They might get a good score on some of these but... you’re in North Dakota!!! The average temperature in the winter is, “Shut up! I’m freezing!!!”  

There is some good news in this study for Utah. We’re not the worst!  That honor falls to Mississippi. New Mexico is 2nd worst, then West Virginia, Louisiana and South Carolina. Wallet Hub seems to put out a new survey like this about once a week in all sorts of cool topics and I always root for Utah to do well. While we didn’t float to the top on things like “great for singles” or low state taxes, I would think we would lead the league when it comes to raising a family. That’s our THING! How did we fall to #15?  

I guess it’s not that we’re bad. It’s that some other states are particularly good in the key areas of their study. This is still a great state for families.