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Best States for Families

Where to raise kids — ranked by school quality, neighborhood safety, and housing affordability across all 50 states + DC.

Families weigh schools, safety, and the cost of putting a roof over kids' heads. We rank every state on three composite factors drawn from NCES schools data, FBI crime statistics, and HUD + Zillow housing costs.

How we scored each state

Each factor is normalized 0–100 against the actual 51-state distribution (min → 0, max → 100; inverted when lower is better). The composite is a weighted average; states missing data for a factor receive a neutral 50 so all 51 still rank.

Factor	Weight	Direction	Data source
School Completion	20%	Higher = better	College Scorecard average completion rate (NCES + scorecard education)
Per-Pupil Spending	20%	Higher = better	policy_education per-pupil spending (NCES) — higher investment, better resources
Low Student-Teacher Ratio	10%	Lower = better	policy_education student-teacher ratio — smaller classes correlate with outcomes
Low Violent Crime	20%	Lower = better	FBI Crime Data Explorer violent crime rate (per 100K residents)
Low Property Crime	10%	Lower = better	FBI Crime Data Explorer property crime rate (per 100K residents)
Affordable Housing	20%	Lower = better	Zillow Home Value Index state average (HUD/Zillow housing)

Full 51-State Ranking

#	State	School Completion	Per-Pupil Spending	Low Student-Teacher Ratio	Low Violent Crime	Low Property Crime	Affordable Housing	Overall
1	New York	60	100	87	—	—	57	67
2	Vermont	67	64	100	—	—	69	65
3	Rhode Island	100	58	83	—	—	44	64
4	Connecticut	83	69	83	—	—	47	63
5	District of Columbia	65	97	87	—	—	33	63
6	Pennsylvania	67	51	77	—	—	85	63
7	West Virginia	55	26	77	—	—	100	59
8	Illinois	50	45	63	—	—	89	58
9	Maine	50	45	90	—	—	72	57
10	Iowa	57	22	72	—	—	91	56
11	Nebraska	49	30	77	—	—	87	56
12	North Dakota	32	37	95	—	—	87	56
13	Massachusetts	75	60	82	—	—	24	55
14	Missouri	57	19	73	—	—	87	55
15	New Hampshire	46	54	93	—	—	51	55
16	New Jersey	51	71	93	—	—	30	55
17	Ohio	53	31	54	—	—	89	55
18	Wisconsin	55	29	67	—	—	77	54
19	Kansas	36	24	77	—	—	93	53
20	Delaware	48	41	71	—	—	62	52
21	Louisiana	43	17	64	—	—	95	52
22	Oklahoma	52	7	56	—	—	96	52
23	Florida	73	13	62	—	—	65	51
24	Indiana	56	12	50	—	—	89	51
25	Kentucky	39	18	58	—	—	96	51
26	Minnesota	42	29	61	—	—	79	51
27	Tennessee	53	12	68	—	—	80	51
28	Wyoming	29	49	86	—	—	57	51
29	Arkansas	26	17	74	—	—	95	50
30	South Dakota	38	18	76	—	—	79	50
31	Virginia	43	26	72	—	—	69	50
32	Michigan	44	23	34	—	—	85	49
33	Mississippi	32	5	64	—	—	99	49
34	Texas	46	13	62	—	—	80	49
35	Alaska	14	57	48	—	—	71	48
36	Maryland	36	35	66	—	—	55	47
37	South Carolina	23	17	66	—	—	82	46
38	Idaho	76	2	32	—	—	56	45
39	Colorado	54	23	45	—	—	45	44
40	Alabama	8	11	58	—	—	92	43
41	Georgia	10	16	59	—	—	82	43
42	Nevada	67	18	10	—	—	52	43
43	North Carolina	24	6	68	—	—	78	43
44	Oregon	45	27	17	—	—	57	43
45	Utah	89	0	0	—	—	47	42
46	Arizona	34	4	60	—	—	61	41
47	Montana	12	22	73	—	—	60	41
48	New Mexico	0	19	63	—	—	79	41
49	Washington	36	32	33	—	—	42	40
50	California	64	40	0	—	—	0	36
51	Hawaii	41	38	53	—	—	1	36

Scores are normalized 0–100; higher is better. Click any state name for the full state profile.

FAQ

What factors matter most when choosing a state for your family?

Three things dominate parent decisions: school quality (which scales with per-pupil spending and class size), neighborhood safety (violent and property crime rates), and housing affordability (the median price you'll actually pay for a home in that state).

Where does this education data come from?

School completion rates come from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Per-pupil spending and student-teacher ratios come from NCES via Mubboo's policy_education dataset. Both are refreshed annually as new federal data lands.

Why are urban states with high home values often lower-ranked?

Housing affordability is weighted equally with school quality and safety. States like California or Hawaii score well on schools and crime but their housing factor drags the composite down. The ranking favors states that score consistently across all three dimensions rather than excelling in one.

How were the weights chosen?

Education (50% combined: 20% completion + 20% spending + 10% ratio), Safety (30% combined: 20% violent + 10% property), and Affordability (20%). These reflect average parent priorities in published consumer research — adjust mentally if your priorities differ.

Mubboo Editorial Team. Cross-domain rankings combine state-level data from multiple Mubboo Info datasets — see the methodology table above for per-factor sources. Datasets refresh annually; rankings recompute every 24 hours. See our full methodology →

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