Texas Is One of the Worst States to Raise a Family
There are aspects of this that are truly surprising.
The latest WalletHub survey shows that a great Texas claim is all hat and no cattle. We are apparently NOT one of the best places to raise a family.
The survey was actually spun in a positive direction as "the best states for families," and Texas tanked it. Overall, we ended up 30th on the list. The only thing that kept us that high was something that kind of doesn't matter so much.
Why Texas Is Not Family Friendly
Texas scored 5th in the nation for "Family Fun," and that's about where the positives ended. For "Health & Safety," which should be everyone's real number one priority, the state came in 47th. For "Education & Childcare," we hit a middling 30th (that's out of 50 for those of you who are uneducated). And completely blowing my mind, Texas ranked 44th for "Affordability." (I really thought we'd be way up closer to the top on that one.)
Here's a few other stats from WalletHub:
Raising a Family in Texas (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
- 2nd – % of Families with Young Children
- 43rd – Child-Care Costs (Adjusted for Median Family Income)
- 22nd – Infant-Mortality Rate
- 22nd – Median Annual Family Income (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
- 36th – Violent Crimes per Capita
- 41st – % of Families in Poverty
- 25th – Housing Affordability
- 35th – Unemployment Rate
- 26th – Separation & Divorce Rate
- 27th – Percentage of Residents Aged 12+ Who Are Fully Vaccinated
I have seen a number of WalletHub surveys come through here and I have to say they use some pretty credible formulas to come up with these results. I think we might want to take a step back and see how we do things so we don't neglect our duties to those little Texans out there (and according to this survey, there's a lot of them).