Posted by: Adam McCann

What should you expect when you’re expecting? Besides possibly the greatest joy of your life, you can expect a lot of extra expenses. Between one-time costs such as a crib and stroller and ongoing ones including diapers and formula, it’s easy to go over budget.

One of the biggest expenses to keep in mind is medical bills. According to The Economist, the average conventional delivery in the U.S. costs over $10,000, more expensive than the birth of Britain’s latest royal baby. Whether or not you have insurance naturally plays a big role as well.

Birthing costs, however, won’t hit your wallet as badly in some states as they will in others. Expenses can vary significantly, considering the wide disparities in cost of living. They can also differ from one pregnancy to another, given that some women experience delivery complications. But there’s more to think about than just cost. Some states provide better quality health care service and better environments in which to care for children.

To determine the most ideal places in the U.S. to have a baby, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 key measures of cost, health care accessibility, as well as baby- and family-friendliness. Our data set ranges from hospital conventional-delivery charges to annual average infant-care costs to pediatricians per capita. Read on for our findings, expert insight from a panel of researchers and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Main Findings Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/6513/geochart-baby.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2OxOtp9>

 

Best States to Have a Baby

Overall Rank (1 = Best)	State	Total Score	‘Cost’ Rank	‘Health Care’ Rank	‘Baby-Friendliness’ Rank	‘Family-Friendliness’ Rank
1	Vermont	68.03	23	1	20	4
2	Massachusetts	67.50	27	2	7	2
3	North Dakota	65.77	2	11	21	3
4	Rhode Island	64.98	29	5	2	9
5	Minnesota	64.64	20	4	18	1
6	New Hampshire	64.23	3	3	42	5
7	Washington	59.75	36	9	3	14
8	Colorado	58.03	49	10	4	12
9	Connecticut	57.24	31	12	14	13
10	Utah	56.28	13	22	12	17
11	Oregon	55.68	17	14	5	23
12	Maine	55.28	15	6	41	16
13	Hawaii	54.63	18	7	6	28
14	Wisconsin	54.28	47	19	22	7
15	Nebraska	53.72	21	21	37	10
16	Iowa	53.36	19	17	28	15
17	New Jersey	53.24	34	43	8	8
18	New York	52.52	46	25	27	6
19	District of Columbia	52.32	35	44	1	N/A
20	Idaho	51.52	6	23	11	30
21	California	51.19	51	16	9	19
22	Virginia	51.06	24	13	35	20
23	Pennsylvania	50.31	8	18	47	21
24	Illinois	49.85	32	20	32	18
25	Montana	48.48	22	24	26	24
26	Maryland	48.13	5	27	31	29
27	South Dakota	48.03	48	29	48	11
28	Ohio	47.88	4	28	33	27
29	Michigan	47.64	10	31	19	32
30	Wyoming	46.17	50	32	10	25
31	Alaska	45.67	43	8	16	36
32	Kentucky	45.51	9	37	17	35
33	Delaware	43.36	26	15	40	34
34	Kansas	42.87	38	30	39	26
35	Missouri	42.47	30	39	44	22
36	Indiana	41.53	11	40	38	33
37	Arizona	41.05	25	35	15	40
38	Tennessee	39.70	42	33	23	37
39	Texas	38.03	41	42	34	31
40	North Carolina	38.01	37	26	45	38
41	New Mexico	37.55	16	38	13	50
42	West Virginia	35.75	12	34	50	47
43	Florida	35.42	45	41	25	39
44	Nevada	35.34	33	36	29	45
45	Arkansas	34.00	7	50	30	44
46	Georgia	32.07	28	45	36	41
47	Oklahoma	31.89	44	46	24	42
48	Louisiana	29.83	1	49	46	48
49	South Carolina	28.48	40	48	49	43
50	Alabama	26.49	39	47	51	46
51	Mississippi	25.47	14	51	43	49

 

Ask the Experts

Parenthood readiness requires financial preparedness. To help expectant parents with the planning process and provide policy insight to local governments, we asked a panel of experts to weigh in with their thoughts on the following key questions:

1. When planning to have a child, what financial considerations should parents take into account?
2. What is the biggest financial mistake that prospective parents make?
3. What can local authorities do to make their cities more baby-friendly?
4. What makes low-income children in some cities do better than those in other cities?
5. Will children born today do better economically as adults than their parents? How much does location matter?
6. How might the recent policy and SCOTUS changes shape access to prenatal and infant care across states?

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• Melissa M. Bell Ph.D., L.S.W. – Associate Professor of Social Work, Program Director, Chatham University
• Jeff Dew Associate Professor, Department: Family Life, Brigham Young University
• Karen Benjamin Guzzo Ph.D. – Associate Director, Center for Family & Demographic Research, Professor, Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University
• Karina M. Shreffler Ph.D. – Professor and Tulsa Academic Programs Coordinator, Department of Human Development & Family Science, Oklahoma State University
• Sophie Tripp Assistant Professor of Economics, Eckered College
• Amber M. Epp Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Marketing, Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison

More Experts

Methodology

In order to determine the best and worst states to have a baby, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across four key dimensions: 1) Cost, 2) Health Care, 3) Baby-Friendliness and 4) Family-Friendliness.

We evaluated those dimensions using 30 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for expectant parents and newborns.

Finally, we determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Cost – Total Points: 20

• Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Average Annual Cost of Early Child Care: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Average Health-Insurance Premiums: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Current Status of Medicaid Expansion Decision: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)Note: We included this metric because Medicaid Expansion helps cover a greater amount of birthing costs.
• Cost of Babysitter/Nanny: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Cost of Newborn Screening: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)

Health Care – Total Points: 40

• Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 Live Births): Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 Live Births): Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Rate of Low Birth-Weight: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Rate of Preterm Births: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Low or Very Low Food Security for Babies: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Share of Children with All Seven Recommended Vaccines: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: “Recommended vaccines” include the following: DTaP vaccine; polio vaccine; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine; Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine; varicella (chicken pox) vaccine; hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine; and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). “Children” include the population aged 19 to 35 months.
• Quality of Women’s Hospitals: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: This metric is based on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals for Gynecology” score.
• Quality of Pediatric Neonatology Facilities: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: This metric is based on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals for Pediatric Neonatology” score.
• Midwives & Obstetrician-Gynecologists per Capita: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Fertility Clinics per Capita: Quarter Weight (~0.66 Points)
• mPINC Survey Score: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: The mPINC (Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care) survey is a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to monitor and examine changes in practices over time at all hospitals and birth centers with registered maternity beds in the United States and Territories.”
• Prenatal Care Access: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)
• Share of Children Aged 9-35 Months who Received Developmental Screening using a Parent-Completed Screening Tool: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: A parent-completed screening tool is a survey given to parents that may help identify developmental delays in their children.
• State Medicaid Policy for Maternal Depression Screening in Well-Child Visits: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: This binary metric measures if a state has or does not have a policy regarding maternal depression screening in well-child visits.
• State Policy for Medicaid-Covered Dyadic Treatment: Full Weight (~2.62 Points)Note: This binary metric measures if a state has or does not have a Medicaid-covered dyadic (parent-child) treatment.

Baby-Friendliness – Total Points: 20

• Parental-Leave Policy Score: Double Weight (~5.71 Points)
• Mom Groups per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Child-Care Centers per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Share of Nationally Accredited Child-Care Centers: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Birth Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• State Policy for Medicaid-Covered Parenting Programs: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)Note: This binary metric measures if a state has or does not have a Medicaid-covered parenting programs.

Family-Friendliness – Total Points: 20

• Family-Friendliness: Full Weight (~20.00 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “Best & Worst States to Raise a Family” ranking.

Videos for News Use:

• YouTube (for web embedding National)
• YouTube (for web embedding Vermont)
• Raw files (for editing into clips)

 Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, U.S. News & World Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Legislative Research, Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health, The National Academy for State Health Policy - Healthy Child Development State Resource Center, National Center for Children in Poverty, Child Care Aware of America, Kaiser Family Foundation, Indeed, United Health Foundation, National Partnership for Women & Families, ZeroToThree.org, BabyCenter.com and WalletHub research.

Image: Oksana Kuzmina / Shutterstock.com

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