Are you better off raising your family in Illinois over Missouri?

One website claims that you are better off raising your family in Illinois compared to Missouri, and they say it's not even that close, are they right?

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Wallethub.com has an article on their website that claims Illinois to be the 16th best state in the country to raise your family in, compared to Missouri which comes in just below the halfway mark at 27th on the list. To see the list for yourself click here, but the site says they used a number of different factors to determine the rankings including categories like, Family Fun, Health and Safety, Education and Child Care, Affordability, and Socioeconomics.

So where des Illinois get the edge on Missouri, well in the category of Family Fun, Illinois is ranked 3rd compared to Missouri's 22nd, every other category Illinois and Missouri are fairly closely ranked except for the fact that Illinois ranks 45th in affordability (not shocking at all) compared to Missouri ranking 17th.

So the question has to be asked is Illinois a better state to raise a family than Missouri? Honestly I think these states are much closer than the wallethub.com ranking would suggest. I also thing these states offer different options to families, Missouri has such a rich amount of outdoors life, and better weather than Illinois, but Illinois does have Chicago and the Chicagoland area that offers a way of life that fits a different lifestyle for people. I do think that raising your family in Missouri would overall be the better option (this coming from a born and raised Illinoisan) mainly because of the cost of living be so much lower than Illinois'. What do you think the answer to this question is?