Arkansas is the worst state to have a baby, while Vermont is the best, according to a new ranking published Sept. 4 from Forbes Advisor, a financial services and personal finance website affiliated with Forbes.
In making its determination, Forbes Advisor compared all 50 states across five key metrics: infant mortality, maternal mortality, percentage of need met for obstetricians and gynecologists by 2030, average cost of childbirth with health insurance, and median cost of childbirth without health insurance or through an out-of-network provider.
Data for the analysis comes from the CDC, HHS, the Health Care Cost Institute and Fair Health. Read more about the methodology here.
The five worst states to have a baby, per the analysis:
1. Arkansas
2. South Dakota
3. Alaska
4. Oklahoma
5. Tennessee
The five best states to have a baby, per the analysis:
1. Vermont
2. Rhode Island
3. Massachusetts
4. New Hampshire
5. Maryland
Other key takeaways from the ranking:
- Southern states dominate the top 10 worst states to have a baby. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia are all in the top 10.
- Northeastern states dominate the top 10 best states to have a baby. Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York are all in the top 10.
- Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate at 8.87 deaths per 1,000 live births, while Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate at 43.5 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The full ranking is available here.