Daytona Beach, FL - Two studies find that Florida may not be the best choice for some early on in life.
Recently, WalletHub released those studies just one day apart, analyzing exactly which states are the best to have a baby, and which ones are the best for early education.
In both of those studies, Florida ranked in the bottom half each time. That's 43rd in having a baby and 34th for early education.
Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranked 43rd in WalletHub's list that tries to identify some of the best and worst places to have a baby in the United States.
In order to determine where exactly the states lie, WalletHub compared the 50 states and DC across four different dimensions. That's the cost of living, health care, baby-friendliness and family-friendliness.
Those dimensions were evaluated alongside 30 relevant metrics, while each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the most favorable. Cost carried 20 total points, Health Care 40, Baby-Friendliness 20 and Family- Friendliness 20.
Florida, ranking 43rd, was also found to have the 34th highest hospital cesarean-delivery charges and highest conventional-delivery charges.
South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi ranked the lowest at 49th, 50th and 51st, while Vermont, Massachusetts and North Dakota ranked in the top three.
And just a day after school started for Volusia and Flagler counties (August 13th), WalletHub released their latest findings related to which states are the best for early education, meaning pre-K.
A study from the National Institute for Early Education Research shows that students enrolled in pre-K programs do better on math and literacy tests than other students enrolled in partial day preschool programs.
In order to find out which were the best and the worst, WalletHub compared three different dimensions, "access," quality of education and the resources and economic support available. Those were evaluated along 12 different metrics and again graded on a 100-point scale.
Out of the 50 states and DC, Florida ranked 29th in "access," 24th in quality and 46th in resources, given a total score of 41.50 out of 100.
