Iowa Is the 3rd Best State For Working Families
Working families in the year 2020 are not what people thought they were going to be 20 years ago. No, I'm not talking about the coronavirus pandemic, just talking in general here. People in the year 2000 thought that working class families in America would be making more money than they were. Unfortunately they are not.
According to Zippia, the children who are working now (including myself) are struggling because the median income for middle-class families hasn’t changed in those 20 years, despite inflation. Working families are also struggling to save for retirement because they are paying for their homes and daycare costs for their kids. Most working middle-class families are borrowing money more than saving it.
The good news? Not all states are terrible like this and actually give working families opportunities to save money and pay for things. Zippia wanted to find out which states are the best for working families. Here is what they found:
The Best States for Working Families
- Kentucky
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- Ohio
- North Dakota
- Montana
- Vermont
- Utah
- Michigan
- Idaho
Zippia found that Iowa was in the top 3. How did land on these findings? They ranked each state 1 to 50 in the following 5 categories:
- Quality of public schools
- Percent of median income that covers daycare costs
- Average home price
- Amount of hours worked
- Median commute length
Zippia put those factors into two categories, time and affordability. Balancing work and family takes up a lot of times and can costs a lot.
With Iowa in the top 3, Zippia found that Iowa working families only pay 19% of their monthly paychecks towards day care. They also found that Iowa working families only work about 39 hours a week and their homes are valued at $142,000 on average, which is the 9th lowest in the country.
How did Illinois favor? Zippia found that Illinois working families pay about 20% of their month income towards daycare, and the average home price for working families are $187,200. This landed Illinois at #28.
To find out more statistics and to see where the other states landed, you can visit their website here.
10 Dumb Laws In Iowa