WalletHub placed Texas near the bottom of its 2026 ranking of the best states to have a baby, but the result differs sharply from several of the personal finance website’s own rankings and depends partly on government-policy choices that do not directly measure childbirth prices or medical outcomes.
Texas finished 45th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with a score of 37.97 out of 100. Only South Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi ranked lower.
The Lone Star State placed 47th in WalletHub’s cost category, 42nd in health care and 34th in both baby-friendliness and family-friendliness.
Those category rankings do not establish that Texas has the nation’s fifth-highest childbirth costs or 10th-worst medical outcomes. WalletHub combined 31 measurements, including several that reward states for adopting specific government programs.
Government policies influence the score
Health care accounts for 40% of WalletHub’s score. Cost, baby-friendliness and family-friendliness each account for 20%.
The cost category does not measure costs alone. WalletHub gives a state’s decision on general Medicaid expansion the same weight as hospital delivery charges, child care expenses, insurance premiums, nanny prices and newborn-screening costs.
Government parental-leave policy receives twice the weight of most measurements in the baby-friendliness category. States also receive points for Medicaid-covered parenting programs, maternal depression screening policies and Medicaid-covered parent-child treatment.
Another 20% of the score comes from WalletHub’s separate ranking of the best states to raise a family. That means the baby study imports the methodology and policy assumptions from a separate ranking.
“The best states for having a baby minimize costs while providing top-notch care for both newborns and their mothers,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said.
WalletHub does not publish Texas’ underlying value for every measurement in its main table, making it difficult for readers to determine which specific medical outcomes, expenses or policy decisions produced the state’s final score.
WalletHub’s other rankings tell a different story
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, WalletHub ranked Texas eighth nationally for its economy in 2025. Texas placed fourth for economic activity and tied for the highest export ranking.
WalletHub later ranked Texas seventh among the best states for jobs, second for its economic environment and first for average starting salary.
Its city-level findings were even stronger. WalletHub named McKinney the nation’s best real estate market in 2025. Richardson, Frisco, Denton and Allen also reached the top 10, giving North Texas half of the country’s 10 highest-ranked markets.
WalletHub ranked Plano fourth nationally among cities for raising a family in 2024. Plano placed seventh in affordability, fifth in health and safety and fourth in socioeconomics. WalletHub again placed Plano fourth in its 2026 ranking.
Those results do not prove that every Texas community offers the same medical care or family conditions. They do demonstrate how dramatically a WalletHub conclusion can change depending on which measurements the website selects and how heavily it weights them.
Americans continue choosing Texas
Federal population estimates and interstate-migration data also complicate WalletHub’s sweeping conclusion.
Texas added 391,243 residents from July 2024 to July 2025, more than any other state, according to Census Bureau estimates previously analyzed by The Dallas Express.
Houston recorded the nation’s largest metropolitan population gain, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth at No. 2. Austin ranked sixth and San Antonio ninth. Together, the four metropolitan areas added 342,475 residents.
Separate IRS figures, which compared tax returns filed in 2022 and 2023, showed Texas gained 112,481 net residents through interstate migration and $5.54 billion in adjusted gross income associated with movers. Texas also earned the nation’s top business-climate ranking for the third consecutive year in 2025.
Texas has extended postpartum Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage from two months to 12 months. However, WalletHub counts general Medicaid expansion while providing no separate measurement for that Texas maternal-care policy.
Texas faces legitimate maternal health, medical access and child care challenges. WalletHub’s ranking can help identify them. Its No. 45 label, however, should not be mistaken for a neutral finding that Texas is broadly one of America’s worst places to welcome or raise a child.
Provided by Dallas Express
