Best States to Raise a Family

[tbm5690]

I feel like @GON posting this, but found it interesting:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-states-to-raise-a-family-in-2025/

By in large, the northerners score best. I wasn't expecting MA as #1 due to COL, but the cost to income ratio there I guess still works out as an average.

 

[GON]

I feel like @GON posting this, but found it interesting:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-states-to-raise-a-family-in-2025/

By in large, the northerners score best. I wasn't expecting MA as #1 due to COL, but the cost to income ratio there I guess still works out as an average.

All I know is MA has an abundence of awesome locally owned restaurants. The food in MA is a significant quality of life benefit.

The chart you listed named New Mexico dead last---- of course that is where I live. More than a little surprised to see Illinois at number seven, huge crime in the state, and the public schools in Illinois removed reading, writing, math, and science from their curriculm.

 

[factorytuned2012]

its not south carolina

 

[eljefino]

You can shuffle the statistical cards anyway you want to generate a map like this that shows what you want to show.

But kids do do well with parents around, stability, and good schools.

 

[SC Maintenance]

its not south carolina

its just a lousy place to live especially the beach area.

Which Beach? Yes, every coastal county has its issues mainly because there now populated by people not from SC - IMHO.

I completely disagree with the rest of the state (we live one county in from the beach) And for the record, I have also lived in Massachusetts - supposedly number 1. We took a corporate transfer there in 2003, and even with a 38% COL adjustment which was supposed to cover the extra we still could not afford to live there. Liked it but left in less than a year, as soon as I got the opportunity to transfer out.

In SC My girls went to a decent public school district, which we could afford to live in. I could afford much more now, but back then I could not. My wife is a teacher in said district. In high school they split into general / honors and the honors kids get an excellent education. They both got academic scholarships from the state schools and will both shortly have degrees in STEM.

There are many great colleges - Clemson, UofSC, CofC are the big publics ones. You also have Citadel. The state run public ones, which are now over-run by kids from "up North" because they have determined at even at twice the cost of in state, there a good deal. I paid maybe half of in-state because of their scholarships.

Housing used to be affordable. Weather is great. People are friendly if you stay away from the transplants. Whats not to love.

These surveys are all bunk IMHO. But I wish more people would read them and stop coming here

 

[factorytuned2012]

horry county Myrtle Beach area. and conway near coastal college is a complete nightmare.

 

[SC Maintenance]

horry county Myrtle Beach area. and conway near coastal college is a complete nightmare.

I believe you - you have been over-run. There now invading my once quiet place also. Charleston County is full so there moving out here. Of course housing is no longer affordable so now there building apartments and townhomes, which the board should never have allowed but of course enough nubes arrived to vote their grift in. I likely will move soon - either in the city (if you can't beat them, join them) or somewhere far away from the crowds.

 

[factorytuned2012]

I believe you - you have been over-run. There now invading my once quiet place also. Charleston County is full so there moving out here. Of course housing is no longer affordable so now there building apartments and townhomes, which the board should never have allowed but of course enough nubes arrived to vote their grift in. I likely will move soon - either in the city (if you can't beat them, join them) or somewhere far away from the crowds.

my option would be not to join 'em. my wife feels differently, I would personally move out of the state even going further into the countryside I'd be punished further work commute still battling the traffic and tourism garbage. they're just building anywhere and everywhere even in the wetlands. ideally when and if I move which will be sooner than later I will not move to an area known for tourism, college town or the BEACH.

 

[Dave Hess]

I was seriously looking in Greenville (Five Forks) area.

Been there 3 times in the past 2 years looking around.

Lots of land to build a home without an HOA.

 

[factorytuned2012]

I like Surry county NC.. Mt Airy area. little over 10K population.

 

[Sayjac]

I was seriously looking in Greenville (Five Forks) area.......

Iirc, there's another member here who moved from Chicago area to Greenville area some years ago. Can't remember his display name but he posted not long ago about buying a new Ram truck. Afaik, he likes it.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I was seriously looking in Greenville (Five Forks) area.

Been there 3 times in the past 2 years looking around.

Lots of land to build a home without an HOA.

I presume you have already talked to @shortyb He was LEO in that area for like 20 years.

One of @alarmguy kids lives there also.

I like Greenville, but they suffer the same issues as Charleston - too many newcomers, not enough infrastructure.

 

[Pew]

More than a little surprised to see Illinois at number seven, huge crime in the state, and the public schools in Illinois removed reading, writing, math, and science from their curriculm.

The majority of crime is in the city/inner City suburbs and is under the national average except for murders. You're extremely wrong about the school curriculum too, no idea where you heard that from.

 

[Owen Lucas]

More than a little surprised to see Illinois at number seven, huge crime in the state, and the public schools in Illinois removed reading, writing, math, and science from their curriculm.

I know a school teacher in a blue state where they have been instructed to increase test results by one grade for minority students. What will this achieve? Getting into college and then realizing the curriculum is too hard and then dropping out 1st semester?

I personally would recommend a slightly rural area in a flyover state where the masses have not infiltrated. A place where they don't check receipts at the Walmart and you don't have to worry about locking your doors. Areas like this still exist, and the schools are pretty decent because you don't have uncivilized people going bonkers distracting everyone and interrupting the school day.

 

[Trav]

I feel like @GON posting this, but found it interesting:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-states-to-raise-a-family-in-2025/

By in large, the northerners score best. I wasn't expecting MA as #1 due to COL, but the cost to income ratio there I guess still works out as an average.

More people leaving than coming.

https://www.massfiscal.org/massachusetts-makes-top-states-losing-population-2023

 

[Hohn]

You can shuffle the statistical cards anyway you want to generate a map like this that shows what you want to show.

But kids do do well with parents around, stability, and good schools.

Precisely, which is why all such articles are clickbaity garbage for the most part. if MA was the best place to raise a family, why would it be losing population? Which is more credible, a clickbait article or thousands of people voting with their feet?

 

[shortyb]

I presume you have already talked to @shortyb He was LEO in that area for like 20 years.

One of @alarmguy kids lives there also.

I like Greenville, but they suffer the same issues as Charleston - too many newcomers, not enough infrastructure.

Which is why I even offered to sell my house to Dave since we are leaving in the next couple years . As nice as the area is, it is getting waaaaay too crowded and can't support the growth. Crime is upticking quickly too with all the influx, glad I don't deal with it anymore. Too many people, not enough cops, collisions are rampant with insurance rates going up as a result. Add to that we don't have a fiduciary cap on civil lawsuits and all you see on the TV anymore is how many lawyers have gotten their clients hundreds and thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in settlements. Don't get me started on the ridiculousness of the state government here either and their wacky laws or ignorance for what needs to be changed. And most of the land that could be had cheaply to build has evaporated or become too expensive. Taxes are going up more now more than ever and the public schools are so overcrowded that they can't provide a good learning environment anymore. My wife was a teacher and librarian for Greenville Co. School system for 18 years and recently left for an up and coming Public Charter school. She cited the overcrowding, lack of administrative support, and the kids were just plain out of control because the lack of discipline/parental responsibility.

So c'mon down and love it for a minute. I won't be here though.

 

[Nessism1]

When it comes to finding a good place to live, particularly when kids are involved, the devil's in the details. For example, I live in So. Calif now, and from town to town, some cities have good schools, and a safe environment, and others don't. You cannot judge the situation based on "states". There are even some cities which combine their school districts, which means that there is consistency in the curriculum and spending, but the test scores are drastically different, depending on the specific location (city), because some parents care about education, and others don't.

I had a job assignment in Ohio in the 1990's, and I started my family there. I bought a house in a town with good schools, and my kids were so happy there. It was safe in a way that So. Calif. will never be (anymore). No fences in the back yards in the housing development we lived in, so the kids were allowed to roam free. My vote goes to finding an environment like this, plus a town with good school testing scores. Again, just down the road may be different, so hunt out your little pocket of the world, and put down roots.

 

[gfh77665]

That map has little to no credibility. People are voting with their feet and loading up and mostly moving south.

 

[eljefino]

That map has little to no credibility. People are voting with their feet and loading up and mostly moving south.

Map probably doesn't apply a lot of weight to cost of living. Lots of great places to live are unaffordable, so people are forced to compromise. We don't know the qualifications of the author so like said above it's a fluff piece.