Study Suggests New England is by Far the Best Region to Have a Baby

It was one heck of a solid showing for Maine and the rest of New England in a recent child study.

Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, published its annual state rankings of the best and worst states to have a baby. Maine was listed as the 11th best state to have a child in. That's a very respectable placement for the Pine Tree State.

Maine came away with a score of 57.86 out of 100. The scoring is based on four categories: Cost, Healthcare, Baby Friendliness, and Family Friendliness. Those are broken down into 32 sub-categories to try and get the most accurate results possible. You can read more about the study's methodology here.

Maine's best ranking was in healthcare, with a 7th overall. That was followed by 17th ranking in family friendliness, and a 20th ranking in cost. The lowest score for Maine came in the baby friendliness category, which was 26th.

Overall, these are very impressive results for our beloved state. And as someone who was raised in Maine, I can certainly attest to how great it was to grow up here. And now seeing so many friends raising their children here, it's clear to me the ranking fits well.

Amazingly, Maine is actually the lowest-ranked New England state. As I mentioned early, this study was absolutely owned by the northern Northeast. Here's a quick look at how the other New England states ranked:

1. Massachusetts
2. Vermont
3. Rhode Island
5. New Hampshire
6. Connecticut

I guess we should just call Maine the slacker.

If there's one thing you take away from this study, it's that New England continues to be better than anywhere else. It's not my opinion, it's like science or something.