2021 is here and so are a slew of new studies. Some are fun to examine as they rank our home state of Iowa highly. One that's doing just that is a new WalletHub study that finds Iowa is one of the top 15 states in the U.S. to raise a family in 2021.

According to the study, Iowa ranks #12 out of the 50 states. The metrics WalletHub used include:

  • Family Fun
  • Health & Safety
  • Education & Child Care
  • Affordability
  • Socioeconomics (Socioeconomics is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes.)

With these metrics in mind, our state scored in the top 10 in Health & Safety (we ranked 8th) and Socio-economics (we also ranked 8th here). Where we lost out on a chance to crack the top 10, or at least finish higher: Family Fun. Which is odd since there's lots of parks, trails and playgrounds in the Cedar Valley. It wasn't enough however, and we finished 34th out of 50 in that department.

Other of Iowa's neighbors that did well include my home state of Minnesota, which finished 2nd overall only behind Massachusetts. And Nebraska pulled in 11th, edging out Iowa by only one spot. THANKS family fun. In case you're wondering, Nebraska did score higher in the family fun category, finishing with a rank of 21st out of 50.

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