Arizona ranked worst state in U.S. for starting a family. Here’s why

If perpetuating the so-called American Dream and having a few kids in Arizona has been sounding great recently, you may want to think twice before stopping birth control.

In a recent study from Ivy Surrogacy — a private organization that helps would-be parents with egg donors and other services — Arizona was ranked as the worst state in the country for starting a family. (Washington, D.C., ranked worse, only underscoring the dysfunctional reputation of our country’s capital.)

The report used a wide range of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics to determine its rankings. That included metrics like reading and math scores, the cost of living, home prices relative to income and life expectancy. Arizona fared especially poorly in certain measures:

• Rate of uninsured children under 19 — 9.3%, the worst in the nation
• Vehicle fatalities — 1.7 per 100 million miles, third-worst
• High school graduation rate — 77%, third-worst

Basically, Arizona might be the worst place to start a family because, statistically, your kids won’t live very long and won’t learn very much either.

The study’s 10 best states for families were all in the Midwest and Northeast, while nine of the 10 worst states were in the South or the West.

With the Trump administration trying to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — which one in four kids in Arizona rely on to not go hungry — things don’t appear to be getting much better. Gov. Katie Hobbs allocated $1.8 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds toward SNAP and some local businesses have been making an effort to fill the increased needs. But that won’t nearly be enough to stave off a potentially catastrophic hunger crisis for poor Arizona children.

On top of that more pressing crisis, Arizona has consistently ranked poorly in education. A recent Arizona Department of Education survey found that more than 1,000 public and charter school teachers have quit since the summer. On top of that, the runaway train of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts — essentially, private school vouchers — has led to wealthy families using taxpayer money for private education while public school districts contract and face budget issues.

Interestingly, Arizona also ranked as the most dangerous place for seniors in another recent study by SeniorLiving.org. The website ranked each state and Washington, D.C., on a 100-point scale based on crime — including fraud — plus health care, weather and traffic safety. It seems that Arizona’s beautiful, warm weather isn’t enough to overcome the other jarring statistics in the state, where more than one in four residents is older than 60.