New Mexico Ranked Worst State to Raise a Family
New year, same bottom ranking for New Mexico.
The list-happy personal finance website Wallethub has released its rankings of the best and worst states to raise a family and for the 4th year in a row the Land of Enchantment has been named the worst.
The study determined its rankings based on "50 key indicators of family-friendliness" which included family income, divorce rates, housing affordability, and crime. Sadly, the categories our neighbors to the west scored well in were far and very few between.
After crunching the numbers, the data showed New Mexico had the worst violent crime rate per capita in the nation (tied with Alaska and Tennessee), the highest percentage of families living below the poverty level, and was among the 5 worst when it came to median family salary. A divorce rate near the bottom at #48 also contributed to New Mexico's poor overall score.
The only positive was its ranking in the “family fun” category, which takes things like the number of attractions and percentage of children who live near a park or playground into consideration, but even that was a dismal #41 – a five place drop from the #36 spot in 2019.
Perhaps New Mexicans who want to do right by their family should consider putting the wheels back on their double wide and moving to a neighboring state.