Massachusetts One of the Best States to Have a Baby: Study

MASSACHUSETTS—Historically, August has long been one of the most popular months for births in the United States. Americans pay the most expensive birthing costs in the world, with a delivery averaging $10,002 and another $5,238 for a C-section.

Personal finance website WalletHub recently took an in-depth look at 2016’s Best & Worst States to Have a Baby.

Massachusetts ranked at number 8 in WalletHub's report, behind Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Oregon. Massachusetts ranked second in having the most pediatricians and family doctors per capita, and third in infant-mortality rate.

To give expectant parents an idea of the delivery costs, health-care accessibility and baby-friendliness of each state, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 key metrics, with a data set that ranges from “hospital Caesarean-delivery charges” to “annual average infant-care costs” to “number of pediatricians per capita.”

WalletHub's rankings for having a baby in Massachusetts (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

• 17th – Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges
• 23rd – Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges
• 3rd – Infant-Mortality Rate
• 19th – Rate of Low Birth-Weight
• 9th – Number of Midwives & OB-GYNs per Capita
• 2nd – Number of Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita
• 23rd – Number of Child-Care Centers per Capita
• 16th – ‘Parental Leave Policy’ Score

See the full report here.

Photo via Shutterstock