A Beautiful Beginning: Maine Among Best States to Have a Baby

Maine and New England are known for being great at a lot of things.

There’s tremendous food, beautiful scenery (well, not Connecticut), charming towns, a gorgeous coastline (sorry, Vermont), and a population that loves to tell it like it is.

According to a new study, we can add something else to that list—having a baby.

Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, published its annual rankings of the best and worst states to have a baby. Maine was listed as the 5th best state to have a child in. That's a heck of a placement for the Pine Tree State.

Miane is One of the Best States to Have a Baby

Maine finished with a score of 64.26 out of 100. The scoring was based on four categories: Cost, Healthcare, Baby Friendliness, and Family Friendliness. These were further broken down into 31 sub-categories to provide the most accurate results possible. You can read more about the study's methodology here.

Maine’s best ranking came in Baby Friendliness, 3rd overall. This category includes factors like birth rate, childcare options, and availability of mom groups, to name a few.

That was followed by a 9th place ranking in Family Friendliness and 11th in healthcare.

The lowest score for Maine came in the cost category, where it ranked 25th. Imagine that, Maine doing poorly in cost. Nobody could have seen that coming.

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. Now, seeing so many friends raising their children here, it’s clear to me that the ranking fits. No wonder so many young families love the idea of moving here.

Is New England the Best Region in America to have a Baby?

Maine found itself right in the middle of the New England rankings. As I mentioned earlier, New England absolutely dominated this study. Here's a quick look at how the other New England states ranked:

1. Massachusetts
4. New Hampshire
6. Rhode Island
7. Vermont
11. Connecticut

Talk about utter domination by New England. There must be something in the water.

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 just my opinion, it’s basically science or something.

READ MORE: 11 New England-Inspired Names For Your Baby

As for the worst place to have a baby? That distinction went to Mississippi. A tough look for a state that often finds itself at the bottom. You can check out the entire list here.