Georgia falls a spot in annual ranking of best states for families
Raising a family is challenging even in the best of circumstances. When your state lacks places for family fun, educational opportunities and affordable housing, however, the challenges increase.
The good news is, WalletHub compiles data to rank each state for its annual Best and Worst States to Raise a Family. The bad news is, Georgia has fallen one spot on this list from last year.
To determine its ranking, the financial website compared all 50 states across five key dimensions: family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability, and socio-economics.
It then evaluated those dimensions using 51 relevant metrics, each graded on a 100 point scale, with a score of 100 being the best score.
In 2021, Georgia finally climbed out of the bottom 10 (to rank No. 40), but returned to 41 last year. The Peach State fell another spot for 2023, to finish No. 42 overall. That makes us the ninth worst state for raising a family.
With an overall score of 40.24, in each dimension we ranked:
- Family fun: 26th
- Health and safety: 46th
- Education and child care: 35th
- Affordability: 41st
- Socio-economics: 41st
In addition, among the key metrics, Georgia finished:
- Median annual family income (adjusted for cost of living): 18th
- Housing affordability: 29th
- Violent crimes per capita: 29th
- Separation and divorce rate: 35th
- Infant mortality rate: 36th
- Percentage of families in poverty: 40th
- Percentage of residents 12 and older who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19: 43rd
The No. 40 ranking in 2021 was Georgia’s highest in seven years. According to WalletHub, we ranked:
- 2023: 42 (ninth worst)
- 2022: 41 (10th worst)
- 2021: 40 (11th worst)
- 2020: 42 (ninth worst)
- 2019: 41 (10th worst)
- 2018: 42 (ninth worst)
- 2017: 44 (seventh worst)
If you want to pack up and move the kids to a more family friendly state, it’s going to be a long way from here. The top five states for families, in order, were Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Vermont.
About the Author
Nancy Clanton is a lead producer for The AJC's platforms team, but also writes stories about health, travel, events and entertainment. A native of Knoxville and graduate of the University of Tennessee, she has worked at the AJC for 24 years.
