South Carolina ranks as 7th-worst state to raise a family in survey

South Carolina has been rated the seventh-worst state in the nation to raise a family by personal finance website WalletHub.

The Palmetto state ranked 44th in the survey, which ranked states in five categories: family fun; health and safety; education and child care; affordability; and socioeconomics. S.C. ranked 43rd in health and safety and 42nd in affordability.

The state’s highest ranking was 24th in the family fun category. It ranked 41st in education and child care and 39th in socioeconomics. Its total score was 40.40, more than 20 points behind top-ranked Massachusetts at 63.37.

New Mexico ranked last with a 32.68 total.

The categories represent a comparison of 42 indicators of family friendliness, ranging from median family salary to housing affordability to unemployment rate. South Carolina did claim the third-lowest child-care costs, behind Mississippi and Louisiana.

Minnesota had the highest median family annual income at $80,399, which is 1.8 times higher than Hawaii, which had the lowest at $44,295.

New Hampshire had the lowest level of families living below the poverty level, at 5.3%, 3.3 times lower than the worst-ranked 17.4% in Mississippi.

The survey also included responses to quality-of-life questions from an expert panel.