Iowa is One of the Best States to Have a Baby… Again

The state of Iowa is up several spots this year on a list of the best and worst states in the U.S. for soon-to-be parents.

As all parents know, having a baby is stressful and expensive, no matter where you live. But, according to a new study, it gets better or worse depending on which state you live in. The website WalletHub recently posted a list of the best and worst states to have a baby in 2017, and the results show that Iowa is definitely on the good half of the list. Before we get to that, though, here's how the list was compiled:

"To determine the most ideal places in the U.S. to have a baby, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 20 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."

Last year, Iowa came in at number 14 on the list. This year, we did even better! Iowa broke the top 10 at number 9 on the list for 2017. We were number 8 in the "family-friendliness" category and number 11 in the "health care" category. We are also number two in the whole country when it comes to low infant mortality rates!

Here are the top 5 best states to have a baby in:

1. Vermont
2. Minnesota
3. New Hampshire
4. Connecticut
5. North Carolina

On the other hand, here are the WORST 5 states:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Nevada
4. West Virginia
5. Alabama

Check out where the rest of the states came in on the list HERE.

[Via WalletHub]