Massachusetts became a kinder and gentler state during the 1990s, at least according to the United Way of America’s State of Caring Index, which was updated last December and includes 35 indicators–from the percentage of citizens living below the poverty level to voter turnout for presidential elections. The Bay State jumped from 18th to fifth on the index, the biggest gain for any state. (Hawaii, plagued by a weak economy, took the biggest dive, from 10th to 33rd.) The improvement was partly due to good timing. The previous Index was compiled in 1991, when the Bay State was in the depths of recession and had the third-highest unemployment rate in the country. But the update primarily uses data from 2001, when Massachusetts had less joblessness than all but nine states. (By 2003, the pendulum had already swung back, and 29 states had lower unemployment rates.) Decreases in crime over the same period pushed Massachusetts from 30th to 17th in the Index’s “safety” category.

Some of the Bay State’s strengths seem more permanent. We’ve consistently had among the lowest infant mortality rates and injury-related deaths, among the lowest pupil-teacher ratios in public schools, and extraordinarily high financial support from our citizens for nonprofit groups (though, curiously, per-capita donations to the United Way are only average). The Bay State’s teenage pregnancy rate has steadily dropped and is now the fifth lowest in the nation. But almost as a reminder that statewide statistics can mask real problems at the local level, the Berkshire Eagle reported in February that the teenage pregnancy rate in Pittsfield has been on the rise and is now twice the rate for Massachusetts as a whole.

A couple of the Index’s health-related measures indicate that Massachusetts may be losing some longtime advantages, however. From 1995 to 2001, the percentage of children aged 19 to 35 months who have been immunized against diphtheria and four other diseases rose from 71 percent to 77 percent, but the state’s ranking by this criterion fell from second to 19th. As for economics, while the Bay State rose from eighth to fifth in median household income from 1991 to 2001, it dropped from 30th to 43rd in income inequality, as indicated by the narrowness of the gap between the top fifth and bottom fifth of earners. And in the category of “we’ll take whatever good news we can get,” Massachusetts improved its ranking in apartment rental affordability–from 50th to 48th.

Source: United Way of America (http://national.unitedway.org)