Illinois in the Middle of Best/Worst States to Have a Baby

According to The Economist, the average conventional delivery in the U.S. costs over $10,000, more expensive than the birth of Britain’s latest royal baby.

What should you expect when you’re expecting? Besides possibly the greatest joy of your life, you can expect a lot of extra expenses. Between one-time costs such as a crib and stroller and ongoing ones including diapers and formula, it’s easy to go over budget.

Personal-finance website WalletHub did what they do best, and crunched the numbers on all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine which states were doing the "having a baby" thing better or worse than others.

Here's what WalletHub's analysts looked at to come up with the numbers:

WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 26 key measures of cost, health care accessibility, as well as baby- and family-friendliness. Our data set ranges from hospital conventional-delivery charges to annual average infant-care costs to pediatricians per capita.

First the top 5 best states for having a baby:

1) Vermont

2) Massachussetts

3) Minnesota

4) New Hampshire

5) North Dakota

Next the 5 worst states for adding to your family:

47) Oklahoma

48) Louisiana

49) South Carolina

50) Alabama

51) Mississippi