Report Reveals Why Indiana is Still Among the Worst Places to Have a Baby in 2024

There is an old saying that goes something like "If you wait until you're ready to have kids, you'll never have them." That basically means you will never really be "ready" to have a kid - none of us are - so I guess you have to take a chance and just go for it. Who's to say if that's true or not? What I can tell you is that some states are, apparently, better than others when it comes to bringing a child into the world.

America's Best & Worst States For Having a Baby

How would you go about determining if one state was better than another for having a child? Luckily, you don't have to, because WalletHub has already done it. If that kind of thing is important to you, or at least a little bit interesting, then you should check out their report ranking 2024's Best & Worst States to Have a Baby. The financial website collected and compared data that measured the cost of having a child, health care accessibility, as well as baby-friendliness, and family-friendliness.

Indiana Still Ranks as One of the Worst States to Have a Baby

According to this report, Indiana ranks 39th in the country - another way to look at is that Indiana is the 13th worst place to have a baby. That's certainly not great news for the Hoosier State - but on a positive note, a wee bit better than last year's report which ranked Indiana 40th. Baby steps, right?

Here's how Indiana ranked in the various categories to lead to the final score...

• Cost rank is 18th - This category includes metrics like delivery charges, the cost of early child care, and health insurance premiums.
• Health Care rank is 47th - This category includes metrics like infant mortality rate, the rate of low birth-weight and preterm births, and the quality of women's hospitals.
• Baby Friendliness rank is 39th - This category includes metrics like paternal leave policies, mom groups per capita, and child care centers per capita.
• Family Friendliness rank is 35th

Other Interesting Results: The Best, The Worst, and the Rest of the Tri-State

With a total score of 73.12, Massachusetts is ranked as the #1 best state to have a baby. At the other end of the list, ranked 51st is Mississippi with a score of 28.58. As for our neighbors here in the Tri-State, Kentucky landed at #34, and Illinois earned a respectable #19 ranking. Check out the full report to see all of the data - you can also scroll over the map below to see how the rest of the country scored.