Illinois worst state in Midwest to have a baby, study says

Illinois is one of the 10 worst states to have a baby, says the financial services website WalletHub.com.

With the fifth highest population in the nation, Illinois ranked 40th on the website's study of best places to have a baby.

The website's ranking puts Illinois as the worst state to have a baby in the Midwest, with Iowa and Kentucky far outranking us at 7th and 14th best in the nation, respectively. Indiana is 23, Missouri is 25 and Wisconsin is 28.

Vermont is ranked number 1, and Alabama is last.

The website gave props to Mississippi for having the lowest annual cost of caring for an infant, North Dakota for having the lowest hospital delivery charges, Alaska for having the lowest infant mortality rate and Washington, D.C. for having the most midwives, obstetricians and pediatricians per capita.

WalletHub compared costs of delivering and raising an infant, health factors such as infant and mother death rates and number of maternity and pediatric doctors per capita, environmental concerns such as air pollution and number of Superfund sites, and policies such as parental leave standards.

The states where most people live turned up low on WalletHub's list, with just one — Texas, ranked 24 — in the top half. Among the other states in the top five for population, California was 33 in the baby ranking, Texas ranked 24, New York ranked 45 and Florida ranked 37.