Drew Dixon
Florida is the best state in the U.S. for “family-friendly” vacations, a new study determined.
Floridarentals.com conducted the analysis and ranked Florida at the top of the list. The hundreds of miles of coastline on both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico sides of the Florida peninsula played a major role in the state getting ranked at the top.
“Florida, being a peninsula, has more miles of beaches than any other state except Washington. Daytona Beach is one of the best places to vacation with kids because you can spend part of the day by the water and then catch a race at the Daytona International Speedway,” the Florida Rentals study concluded.
Florida Rentals is a hotel and travel advocacy site and organization that matches travelers with accommodations in the state. The organization acknowledged that the study could appear skewed. But a note said researchers went out of their way to handle the ranking project objectively.
“While it is certainly in our best interests for Florida to come in first place in this analysis, it was very important to us to conduct this study in a fair and impartial way,” an acknowledgement in the study said.
The study used seven factors to determine the ranking of best family-friendly vacation spots including:
— Hotel rooms per capita.
— Restaurants per capita.
— Museums per capita.
— Total number of amusement parks.
— Total miles of beaches.
— Average annual temperature.
— Cost of living.
The study gave props to Central Florida, which played a key role in the ranking by helping attract repeat visitors.
“Many families make regular trips to Orlando due to its abundance of amusement parks. Between Walt Disney World, Epcot, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and others, Orlando is a city you need to visit time and time again to experience all it has to offer,” the study found.
Miami and South Florida were also credited for being regular draws for family visitors, noting that Miami Beach, despite its swanky nightlife and high-end nightclubs, remains a favorite for family vacations. Adding to South Florida’s draw are the major league professional sports teams, including the Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, Miami Marlins, Miami Heat and Inter Miami CF.
Wyoming was ranked second on the list of best family vacation states. The study admitted that Wyoming was an unlikely state to be ranked so high.
“It has the lowest population of any U.S. state and is one of only five with less than 1 million permanent residents. However, Wyoming has the second-largest number of hotel rooms per 100,000 people out of any US state, behind only Nevada,” the study stated.
Rounding out the Top 5 states on the list are North Dakota, Hawaii and Vermont.
The worst state for family-friendly vacations, according to Florida Rental, is Idaho.
“It (Idaho) is in the lower 20% of U.S. states in terms of the number of restaurants and in the lowest 10% of states for the number of museums,” the analysis found.
In a unique breakout of the study, Florida Rentals researchers found that Nevada, which ranked 11th among the best states for family vacations, had the best hotels for families among travel destinations in America.
“This is largely due to Las Vegas where you can see dozens of luxury and budget-friendly places to stay while making a quick trek up and down the (Las Vegas) strip,” the study concluded “The neon lights and slot machines may not make it one of the best places to vacation with kids, but Nevada is also home to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and is only a short drive from Death Valley, California.”
California, which was ranked the 14th best state for family vacations, was ranked first both for restaurants and museums.
