Not every state in the U.S.A. is created equal when it comes to family flourishing. According to a new study released this week, nine of the top 10 states with the healthiest families are conservative.

At the root of what is hurting our communities is broken families,” Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), which commissioned IFS to carry out the family structure study, told The Washington Stand.

The 2025 Family Structure Index ranks all 50 states based on three criteria: the percentage of married adults between the ages of 25 to 54, the average number of lifetime births per woman, and the percentage of children aged 15 to 17 who are living with their married parents. The outcomes tracked closely with conservative political ideology, especially in states with a strong religious base, according to Brad Wilcox, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia and a fellow at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS).

States that support strong family structures reap the rewards of lower poverty rates, better educational outcomes, and economic prosperity,” Tom Shaheen, vice president of Policy for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, told TWS.

The majority of teenagers in 17 states are raised in broken or single-parent homes. In Louisiana, barely one in three teens (35.9%) lives with his or her own parents.

Areas with fewer intact families experienced more violence. Canton, where two out of three children are raised outside wedlock, has 12 times the level of violent crime as the Columbus suburb of Dublin, where 84% of teens live with their parents.

Children raised in areas with fewer strong families and a robust culture of marriage were also less likely to graduate high school. “Comparatively high family instability across the state is undoubtedly one reason Ohio ranked 28th in on-time high school graduation,” said the CCV. “We know that states with a greater share of married parents have substantially higher graduation rates, even after controlling for states’ median income, race/ethnicity, education level, and age composition.”

Not one of the 50 states has a birthrate that meets the replacement level of 2.1. The closest, South Dakota, has a fertility rate of 2.01. Every other state’s birthrate falls below 2.0.

The Centre for Christian Virtue offers three concrete plans to strengthen families — and, unlike other think tanks, some of the steps can only be implemented by the church.

“Restoring a Hope and a Future for our children is possible. It starts with a commitment to addressing the root cause driving the challenges in our communities. Changing course will require both Church and State solutions,” says the report.

The state should eliminate marriage penalties, teach the Success Sequence in school, and promote marriage broadly in the public imagination, say experts.

The Success Sequence, created by scholars at the Brookings Institution, found that if young people graduate high school, get a job, and get married before having kids, “it is nearly impossible to live in poverty,” in CCV’s words. They also found those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder saw the greatest gains from following those steps, which sometimes lifted 99% of the population out of poverty. “Ohio should require public schools to teach the Success Sequence as part of their curriculum,” says the CCV report. “Ohio should create a public education and media campaign focused on increasing the marriage rate and promoting strong and stable marriages,” it adds.

Churches should “emphasize marriage and family,” underscore the “value of a faith-based marriage and family life,” and encourage couples to cast the burdens of marriage on Christ. “Couples who attend religious services together are significantly more likely to be happily and stably married,” notes CCV. “Churches must routinely proclaim an inspiring vision of marriage where the beauty, goodness, power, and difficulties of marriage and family life can be shared in age-appropriate ways to the entire congregation.’

The title of “The Hope and a Future Report” comes from Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” The self-affirming verse has displaced the gospel message of John 3:16 as the most popular Bible verse in America.