New Jersey. A state whose name brings to mind Atlantic City, the Jersey Shore, and Chris Christie. Naturally, this would be where you want to raise your children.
According to one nonprofit group, it is. For the first time, the organization Save the Children ranked each U.S. county on which are the safest for raising children. New Jersey, which happens to have the most toxic waste dumping spots in the nation, produced six counties in the top 17, including first place Hunterdon County, a wealthy exurb of New York City.
The group used four metrics; child deaths, child hunger, school dropout rates, and teenage pregnancy. New Jersey, which was set for an MTV spinoff titled “Teen Mom New Jersey” in 2017, won going away. Massachusetts, Iowa, Virginia — none were a match for New Jersey, which gave the world Dennis Rodman.
It didn’t come up all roses for the Garden State. New Jersey’s southern counties ranked far below their northern counterparts, and the state still gets called the Armpit of America. New Jersey, which makes us watch Rutgers football in the Big Ten, was the only state with a negative approval rating when polled in 2015. And yet, maybe it is all this hardship around it, the population density, the MTV “reality” shows, the toxic waste, Chris Christie, that gives New Jersey a leg up on the rest of the country. Parents there are sharpened by iron, for they must fight off the very state they live in for their children.
So rejoice, New Jerseyans. For now, you have the bragging rights of being the best state in the nation to raise a child. So long as you accept that you also have the unofficial distinction of being the worst state in the nation to raise a sports fan. (Rutgers in the Big Ten? Really?)
