Florida Not So Hot For Working Dads: Study

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Florida consistently ranks high for being among the best places in the country for retirees, but it’s not so hot when it comes to creating friendly conditions for working dads, according to a new study. Florida ranked in the bottom half of the pack compared with the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The study was undertaken by the number crunchers at WalletHub just in time for Father’s Day.

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“In order to help dads balance their dual role as parent and provider, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia across 22 key indicators of friendliness toward working dads,” explained Diana Popa, spokeswoman for the website that’s dedicated to all things personal-finance related. Those metrics included such things as median family income, male life expectancy, unemployment rate for dads with kids younger than 18 and the male uninsured rate.

When all was said and done, the number crunching led Connecticut to the top of the ranking list. The state was followed by Minnesota, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Jersey in second through fifth places. Mississippi came in 51st place with Nevada just ahead of it in the 50th position.

As for Florida, it took 33rd place, putting it above such states as Kentucky, South Dakota and Tennessee. It also beat out nearby Georgia, which landed in 43rd place, according to WalletHub.

See also: Florida Ranks As America's Best for Retirees

Florida’s best ranking in individual metrics was a seventh-place score for average length of work day. The state also earned 13th place for male deaths related to heart disease.

WalletHub pointed out several metrics that made Florida fall into the list’s bottom half. They included:

• 50th in the male uninsured rate
• 47th in the unemployment rate for dads with kids younger than 18
• 41st for median family income (adjusted for cost of living)
• 41st for child care costs (adjusted for median family income)

The data that drove the study came from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent, the National Center for Educational Statistics, among other sources. To read more about the methodology, check out WalletHub online. The full ranking report may also be viewed on WalletHub.

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