Minnesota Ranked 2nd Best State To Raise Family In New Study

MINNESOTA — The Land of 10,000 (frozen) Lakes turns out to be a great place to raise a family, according to a new study.

Minnesota ranked highly across WalletHub's factors of family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability, and socio-economics. Minnesota ranked especially high in the subcategories of family poverty percentage and median family income.

"Raising a healthy, stable family sometimes requires moving to a new state. The reasons people choose to move are often similar: career transitions, better schools, financial challenges or a general desire to change settings," the study notes.

"To help with the evaluation process, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 51 key indicators of family-friendliness. Our data set ranges from the median annual family income to housing affordability to the unemployment rate."

The study's top five list was made up solely of cold-weather states:

1. Massachusetts

2. Minnesota

3. New York

4. North Dakota

5. Vermont

The study's bottom five list was made up of states in the south and southwest:

46. South Carolina

47. Louisiana

48. West Virginia

49. New Mexico

50. Mississippi

Check out the full WalletHub study here.