Worst Places for Families
So where are the worst places to raise a family? Every city has its good and bad areas and parents have different needs, so it is hard to know, but here is a short list and some important factors to consider when thinking about the worst places to live and raise a family:
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (most polluted city)
- Chicago, Illinois (highest rates of lead poisoning)
- Georgia, Nevada, Florida, and Washington, D.C. (lowest high school graduation rates)
- Washington D.C., Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas (highest teen pregnancy rates)
- Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia (highest rates of children living in poverty)
- Montana, Washington D.C., and Alaska (highest rates of kids without any personal doctor or nurse)
Best Places for Families
And the best places to live and raise a family? Some things to look for include a place that is safe, where your kids can raise happy and healthy lives and may include:
- Cheyenne, WY (cleanest city)
- Alaska (lowest rates of lead poisoning)
- Arlington, Texas and the 99 other cities on the America's Promise Alliance list of 2008 100 Best Communities for Young People
- Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska (highest high school graduation rates)
- New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut (lowest teen pregnancy rates)
- Philadelphia, PA (home of U.S. News & World Report's top ranked Children's Hospital of Philadelphia)
- New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, and Hawaii (lowest rates of children living in poverty)
- Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont (highest rates of kids without any personal doctor or nurse)
Sources:
The Commonwealth Fund, U.S. Variations in Child Health System Performance: A State Scorecard. May 2008.
Best Life. The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family. June 2008.
U.S. Census Bureau. Monthly new residential sales press releases and construction price indexes. June 2008.
Forbes.com Safety first: The best places to live in the U.S. Aug. 30, 2005.
American Lung Association. State of the Air 2008.
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. High School Graduation Rates in the United States.
National Center for Vital Statistics. Births: Final Data for 2005. Vol. 56. No. 6. December 5, 2007.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center.
The Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs. 2006.
