New Index Reveals Best States to Raise a Family

Fergus Hodgson, 20 March 2017

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Scott Moody and his wife Wendy Warcholik are the proud parents of five children, and they chose to raise them in New Hampshire, particularly because of the favorable economic environment. However, as they saw the demographic decline of New England, they became aware of many more ingredients that went into making healthy families. Thus they utilized their economics backgrounds to come up with an index of family success, one that identifies the states that are defying the breakup of the nuclear family in the West: the Family Prosperity Index (full report, 152 pages: PDF).

Moody has had a lengthy and illustrious 18-year career in policy research, and he holds a master’s degree in economics from George Mason University. He was the cofounder of the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index and was the chief economist of the State Policy Network. He is now the director of the Family Prosperity Initiative and the CEO of the Granite Institute.

The 2017 Family Prosperity Index finds Utah to have the healthiest families, considering 60 data inputs. (FPI)

Recommended Links

• Family Prosperity Initiative: “Explore the Data.”
• Key Policy Data: “United Van Lines 2016 Movers Study.”
• Granite Institute: “The New Hampshire Advantage in One Chart.”
• Fraser Institute: “Economic Freedom of North America 2016.”
• American Legislative Exchange Council: “State of the States 2016.”

Fergus Hodgson (@FergHodgson) is an economic consultant and Gold Newsletter‘s roving editor.