Best states to raise your kids- #1 NJ/#50 NM (apartments, low crime)
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Oregon at 31 and Washington and 22 is stupid. These states are the capital of the nature in this country. No offense to New Jersey but would you rather have your kids live in Seattle or Camden? Portland or NewarK?
1. Family Economic Well-Being
2. Health
3. Safe/Risky Behavior
4. Education Attainment
5. Community Engagement
6. Social Relationships
7. Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being
If those are the variables then New Jersey has no business being that high. Washington and Oregon has great community engagement and even the worst part of the state is better than Camden. People from the PNW are way more well off than New Jersey. I know people from New Jersey who say some parts are good but major cities there are terrible there and the PNW has a way better quality of life.
I knew some kids who were raised in New Mexico, and they can ride a horse and catch rattlesnakes with their bare hands, and most important of all, their parents let them. Sounds like a pretty good place for kids to be raised.
I also knew some kids who were raised in New Jersey, and they're in prison. Doesn't sound like such a good place for kids to be raised.
I suspect the criteria for this study were chosen accordance with an importance scale by psychologists who were raised by overly protective parents in eastern cities, and who have long since forgotten what it is like to be a kid.
You couldn't pay me to raise a kid in any of those states other than Utah. Yeah.... states filled with kids with misdiagnosed Adhd and various "mental illnesses" as an excuse to get them over medicated to a near vegitative state. No wonder education has been falling over the last 30 plus yrs
No thanks..... I will take a state where kids are still allowed to be kids
My top states to raise a kid would be Oregon, Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Montana, Wyoming
Lower amounts of drugs, gangs, stupid parents etc. also near places where outdoor recreation is plentiful which is great for kids to play instead of the concrete jungle in large cities
Iowa: Great place to raise kids. Mine were 4 and 6 when we moved here from southern Calfornia. Excellent public schools from preschool through high school, and then college (one went out of state). A lot of moms in my neighborhood were stay at home moms until the kids went to school. Safe. Low crime. Good mix of conservative versus liberal. Excellent health care, and care for underprivileged children. Strong emphasis placed on education and various programs.
Last edited by smpliving; 04-11-2013 at 01:21 PM..
If those are the variables then New Jersey has no business being that high. Washington and Oregon has great community engagement and even the worst part of the state is better than Camden. People from the PNW are way more well off than New Jersey. I know people from New Jersey who say some parts are good but major cities there are terrible there and the PNW has a way better quality of life.
You said the major cities in NJ are bad places, which are for the most part, true. Lots of poverty and crime in Newark and Camden, NJ. However there are many suburban towns in New Jersey that are very nice to live, especially those that are near NYC. Also, New Jersey is actually more well off than 47 of the US states: List of U.S. states by income - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
Originally Posted by A&M_Indie_08
You couldn't pay me to raise a kid in any of those states other than Utah. Yeah.... states filled with kids with misdiagnosed Adhd and various "mental illnesses" as an excuse to get them over medicated to a near vegitative state. No wonder education has been falling over the last 30 plus yrs
No thanks..... I will take a state where kids are still allowed to be kids
My top states to raise a kid would be Oregon, Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Montana, Wyoming
Lower amounts of drugs, gangs, stupid parents etc. also near places where outdoor recreation is plentiful which is great for kids to play instead of the concrete jungle in large cities
I like your list, but what about California? I mean, MANY people I know say California is starting to turn into a bad place to raise children, and is only good for well off families. I live here in California and the one great thing about growing up here is the diversity. Lots and lots of diversity among people. However, there is quite a large gang influence everywhere in the state. I live in a city near the Bay Area that's usually considered safe by California standards, but there still are a lot of gang members and failing public schools all around my city. However, a lot of diversity and the nice weather are among the positive factors of growing up in either Northern or Southern California.
Oregon at 31 and Washington and 22 is stupid. These states are the capital of the nature in this country. No offense to New Jersey but would you rather have your kids live in Seattle or Camden? Portland or NewarK?
1. Family Economic Well-Being
2. Health
3. Safe/Risky Behavior
4. Education Attainment
5. Community Engagement
6. Social Relationships
7. Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being
If those are the variables then New Jersey has no business being that high. Washington and Oregon has great community engagement and even the worst part of the state is better than Camden. People from the PNW are way more well off than New Jersey. I know people from New Jersey who say some parts are good but major cities there are terrible there and the PNW has a way better quality of life.
This list blows sorry
The logic of basing NJ on Newark and Camden is comparable to picking out LA and calling it America. Way to go. Even so, Newark has the higher graduation rates amongs blacks than other major city.
But go on, tell me more about the 2%. What is Seattle? Well over 15% of the states total population, I'm guessing. Newark's suburbs have more blue ribbon districts than the suburbs of Seattle or Portland, I'm sure.
@jtur88 Wrestling rattlesnakes and horseback riding around NM is great, and NJ is just full of students who went to prison. It doesnt have the lowest underage DUI rates or anything. More crap. Which of the plentiful drugs found in NM are you on?
I can't. The logic. Help.
I have no problem of you disagree. A kid can be a kid in the concrete jungles of NYC just as much as a kid can be a kid in the middle of no where in bautiful Wyoming. The criteria is infinite, just take note of the 27 factors used and try not to make it a one sided, personal opinion with no kind of justice behind it.
Last edited by ImOnTheMove; 04-11-2013 at 01:50 PM..
Oregon at 31 and Washington and 22 is stupid. These states are the capital of the nature in this country. No offense to New Jersey but would you rather have your kids live in Seattle or Camden? Portland or NewarK?
1. Family Economic Well-Being
2. Health
3. Safe/Risky Behavior
4. Education Attainment
5. Community Engagement
6. Social Relationships
7. Emotional/Spiritual Well-Being
If those are the variables then New Jersey has no business being that high. Washington and Oregon has great community engagement and even the worst part of the state is better than Camden. People from the PNW are way more well off than New Jersey. I know people from New Jersey who say some parts are good but major cities there are terrible there and the PNW has a way better quality of life.
This list blows sorry
If you're offended that New Jersey is number 1, you really shouldn't be. It doesn't mean your state is bad. A more accurate statement would be that New Jersey is just MUCH better than its reputation. Based on your comment you don't seem to have a lot of knowledge or experience with New Jersey because you don't paint a very accurate picture with your description.
First of all New Jersey consistently ranks in the top 10 for most educated and wealthiest states in the nation. I don't know what image comes to your head when you think of New Jersey but we are actually very well off. New Jersey has Princeton, which according to Forbes is now the number 1 university in the nation. http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/. In terms of health, the pharmaceutical industry is very big in New Jersey. For example, there's a little known company called Johnson and Johnson that's headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In terms of safety, again you seem to have a very inaccurate picture of New Jersey. New Jersey is a very safe state. You singled out two towns out of 565 to judge the entire state. And one of those towns, Newark, has been improving in recent years. Seriously, market rate apartments are opening up and more importantly selling out fast, new restaurants and entertainment options like the New Jersey Devils are drawing people to the city at night and ethnic neighborhoods like the Ironbound are thriving and have been for a long time now. I'll admit Camden is as bad as it's reputation but the entire city is only 10 and a half square miles. Camden's population is only around 80,000 and New Jersey's population is just under 9,000,000.
That brings me to my next point. New Jersey is the most heavily concentrated state in the nation and also one of the most diverse. If you can't find a group you belong to here then you're pretty much SOL everywhere else. So I'm not sure what you're talking about when you bring up social relationships.
I am sure Washington and Oregon are fantastic places (actually the Pacific Northwest is at the top of my travel list) but New Jersey is so much better than people think it is. One of my pet-peeves is when people think they can make an accurate statement about a place based on second hand information.
Last edited by montycench; 04-11-2013 at 04:19 PM..
Doesn't surprise me one bit that NJ won. Aside from the very obvious exceptions of Camden and Newark, it's got great schools, charming towns, nice suburban areas, tons of beaches for summer fun, lots of natural areas (don't scoff, it's true). Also all of the advantages of being near NYC and Philadelphia.
If you want your kids to handle snakes, then by all means live in New Mexico. Otherwise, NJ wins.
For what it's worth, I've never lived in NJ (and sometimes make fun of it in other forums) so I have no dog in this fight.
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