Dropping one spot since last year, New Jersey was recently ranked the 5th best state in America to raise children.

New Jersey was ranked this high due to having fewer children in poverty, having more attending preschool and more kids graduating high school on time than the national average.

The report, which is done annually by Kids Count, ranked New Jersey in the top-ten for 15 years now.

"We’re a relatively wealthy state and more than that, we have some progressive policies we have remained committed to over time," said Cecilia Zalkind, the executive director for the Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

New Jersey which was ranked high due to its educational achievements and its strong family and community bonds only comes in behind New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Minnesota.

For years now New Jersey has been one of the top states in the country when it comes to academics. The state was only second to Connecticut on the four educational measures according to the report.

NJ has only 13% of kids failing to graduate from high school while the national average is 22%.

While the state did come in high compared to others, it did slip when it comes to economic and health measures but was still strong when compared to the rest of the country with 15% of its children living in poverty and 27% of children with parents who did not have a steady job in 2011.

Nationally, 23% of children live in poverty and 32% were raised in a household with an inconsistent income.

-  Nj.com

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