Is New York the Best State to Have a Baby?

Bringing a child into this world is a joyful, but stressful occasion. With the current pandemic, I'm sure the stress is much greater, but what is the best place to have your baby?

Aside from the worry that comes with giving birth during a public health crisis, expecting mothers and fathers have to worry about the cost. The medical bills associated with child-birth can cost more than $10,000. Of course, insurance plays a big role in that figure.

Luckily, my wife and I didn't have many costs when our children were born, as at the time I worked for a hospital, so the cost was covered. Plus we had very good insurance at the time. We were very fortunate as this is not the case for the majority of people in the country.

Obviously the cost can differ from person to person depending on the complications that can occur during childbirth. However, there is more to consider than just the cost when trying to determine which state is the best to have a baby.

Some states provide better quality health care services and better environments in which to care for children. To determine the most ideal places in the country to have a baby, Wallethub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 32 key measures of cost and health care accessibility, as well as baby-and family-friendliness.

The data set ranges from hospital conventional-delivery charges to annual average infant-care costs to pediatricians per capita.

New York was ranked as the 16th best state to have a baby, right behind Iowa and ahead of Utah. The top three states to have a baby in the country are Massachusetts being the best, followed by Minnesota and Vermont.

Here's the breakdown for New York:

• 30^th – Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges
• 33^rd – Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges
• 47^th – Avg. Annual Cost of Early Child Care
• 7^th – Infant Mortality Rate
• 23^rd – Rate of Low Birth-Weight
• 22^nd – Midwives & OB-GYNs per Capita
• 45^th – Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita
• 40^th – Child-Care Centers per Capita
• 7^th – Parental-Leave Policy Score
• 47^th – WalletHub “States with the Best Health Infrastructure for Coronavirus” Score