Nowadays everybody is so used to hearing bad news, many of us get beaten down by it. That's why whenever I hear a little GOOD news, I like to spread the joy among my Berkshire County family and friends.

And let me tell you, this is truly some excellent news! According to WalletHub, the personal finance website, the Bay State performs very well in its latest study. As a matter of fact, Massachusetts tops the list at #1!

WalletHub always puts together great studies and state-by-state rankings, and this one is no exception. It's been 2023 for a little while now and WalletHub has published its list of 2023's Best and Worst States to Raise a Family and as I already mentioned Massachusetts is #1!

To come up with the results for the best states to raise a family, WalletHub compared all 50 states across several family-friendly indicators such as infant mortality rate, separation rate, divorce rate, percentage of families with young children, violent crime, housing affordability, etc.

Now interestingly enough, Massachusetts did not rank #1 in any of the individual key metrics but ranked high enough or performed well enough in the majority of them to grab #1 overall.

As a matter of fact, the highest Massachusetts ranked in any of the key categories was #2 in the category for "Percentage of Residents Aged 12+ Who Are Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19".

Out of the 5 major metrics, Massachusetts ranks in the top 10 in 4 of them: "Family Fun", "Health & Safety", "Education & Child Care", and "Affordability". And even in the final major metric, "Socio-economics", Massachusetts still did fairly well with a placing at #22.

Here are the official Best States to Raise a Family in 2023 according to WalletHub:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. Minnesota
  3. New York
  4. North Dakota
  5. Vermont
  6. New Hampshire
  7. New Jersey
  8. Nebraska
  9. Iowa
  10. Connecticut

And with Rhode Island at #11 and Maine at #16, I'd say New England is a pretty good region to raise a family, wouldn't you? And in case you were wondering, the worst state to raise a family is the state of Mississippi.

Believe me, there is a lot more to check out in this study. Take a look for yourself by visiting WalletHub's website here.

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Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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