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The states revealed as best to start a family amid cratering belief in the American Dream
For those chasing the American dream, a new study has some insightful information about what it takes to attain it – along with data that might determine the best states to set down roots.
Declining marriages and broken families are crippling predominantly blue states, while red states thrive with better economic mobility, education and lower crime, according to a 2026 Family Structure Index released Tuesday by the Ohio-based Center for Christian Virtue.
In partnership with the Institute for Family Studies, the report examined three core factors: marriage rates, family stability and fertility rates. It also tracked cost of living, religious participation, family instability, and education levels, finding wide gaps across states that affect the “health and attainability of the American Dream.”
“This report should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers and community leaders across the country,” CCV President Aaron Baer told Fox News Digital.
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Baer added that government programs alone “can’t replace strong families.”
“No amount of paid family leave, childcare subsidies, or social experimentation will rebuild the foundation that families provide,” he said. “If those policies were enough, states like California and New York would be leading the way. The data show otherwise. If we’re serious about reducing poverty and expanding opportunity, we need to strengthen the institutions that have always made America strong: faith, family, and economic freedom.”
The report finds that only 1 in 3 Americans believe in the American Dream.
The index clearly shows geographic divides. Red states like Utah rank first in family stability, while blue states like New Mexico trail behind.
Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states generally have higher marriage and fertility rates, according to the report.
Behind Utah, the rest of the top 5 states for family stability were Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.
The bottom five states: Vermont, Nevada, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and New Mexico.
These differences are now impacting where people choose to live, according to the report.
South Carolina, for example, has seen marriage rates rise and its ranking on this list improve; while Hawaii has fallen as marriage rates decline and housing costs remain high.
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As these pressures grow, more Americans are leaving high-cost blue states for more affordable red states.
“Strong families are the foundation of a healthy society,” Baer said in a press release. “This report shows that when family structure weakens, the effects ripple outward to our schools, our communities and our economy. But it also makes clear that this is not inevitable. There is a solution and a path forward.”
Notably, the report highlights a clear link between family structure and economic outcomes.
States with more married parents saw lower child poverty rates, better educational outcomes, less crime and stronger economies, while those with higher shares of single-parent households face long-term challenges.
Other contributing factors also emerged.
States with higher religious participation saw higher birth rates, while expensive housing markets are tied to lower fertility rates, according to the report. Education also plays a role as more college-educated adults are more likely to form stable families due to economic security.
Since 2000, the national index score has dropped from 100 to 87.3, signaling a decline in family structure, the report added. While marriage rates have stabilized in recent years, fertility rates continue to fall and pose lasting constraints for future generations.
However, these trends do vary across both red and blue states, according to a CCV spokesperson, who said the report “also underscores that these trends are not confined to any one region or political ideology.”
The findings have prompted calls for policy changes focusing on strengthening families and economic conditions.
“The lesson going forward is clear,” Baer said. “Red and blue states alike should advance policies that make housing more affordable, ensure good-paying jobs are within reach, keep taxes low, and expand access to quality education.”
Baer added this comes down to the impact of stable households.
Stable two-parent homes are linked to higher college graduation rates and a better shot at reaching the middle class, the report said. Married adults are also about 80% less likely to live in poverty than single adults.
“Family structure is one of the strongest predictors we have for whether children and communities are thriving,” University of Virginia sociology professor and lead researcher Brad Wilcox said in a press release. “States that are doing well in this area have markedly lower levels of child poverty, as well as higher rates of economic mobility and homeownership.”
For many, economic realities have continued to fuel skepticism about the American Dream. Since 1980, fewer adults ages 25 to 54 have been able to buy homes, and only about 50% of those born in the 1980s earn more than their parents—down from 90% among those born in the 1940s.
Marriage rates fell sharply from 2000 to 2010, followed by a 17% drop over the next decade, as “upward mobility has been cut nearly in half over two generations,” the report said.
“This isn’t just about statistics,” Baer said. “It’s about real children and real futures. If we want to see our nation thrive, we have to be serious about strengthening marriage and supporting families in every community.”
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The quantum mystery that may explain how God knows every thought you have
For millennia, the concept of an omniscient God — a deity who knows every sparrow that falls, every thought that forms, and every star that burns across the vast expanse of the cosmos — has boggled the human imagination. How in the world can any entity, no matter how supreme, know everything that’s happening everywhere, all at once, in real time, and with atomic-level intimacy?
To the strict materialist, it sounds like an impossibility, a wondrous but completely illogical relic of ancient philosophies and religions. Yet, when one plumbs the depths of modern physics, one discovers something utterly profound: The concept of divine omniscience is not just plausible; its mechanism is woven into the very fabric of spacetime.
This deeply mysterious mechanism is called quantum entanglement. It was first acknowledged in 1935 by physicists Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen; verified theoretically in 1964 by physicist John Stewart Bell; and validated experimentally in 1972 by physicists John Clauser and Stuart Freedman.
Here’s how it works.
IS HEAVEN REAL? SCIENCE MAY REVEAL WHERE GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM EXISTS
Two objects — for example, subatomic particles — that are intimately related and then widely separated somehow maintain an invisible, intimate and unbreakable connection. One object might be in a lab on Earth and the other might be clear across the universe, billions of light-years away, yet whatever happens to one is known and felt by the other instantaneously, without any delay whatsoever.
Einstein was none too pleased with quantum entanglement because it violates a sacred principle of his theory of special relativity: Nothing — not even information — can travel faster than the speed of light. He mocked the idea that two widely separated objects could communicate infinitely fast, calling it spukhafte Fernwirkung, German for “spooky action at a distance.”
Even though he was ultimately proven wrong both theoretically and experimentally, Einstein was right to call quantum entanglement spooky. To this day, the instantaneous signals passing between entangled objects are like nothing we can explain. They’re something totally different from radio waves and light signals.
DR MARC SIEGEL: TELL ME YOUR MIRACLES AND I WILL TELL YOU THE ONES I AM PRAYING FOR
Indeed, one would be justified in calling the connection between widely separated, entangled objects “otherworldly.” I say that because quantum entanglement clearly offers us a stunning scientific explication of the age-old belief in an omniscient God.
Many people carry with them the image of a deity who is far removed from human affairs, peering down on his creation through a cosmic telescope, waiting for the light of our actions to reach him in heaven. Quantum entanglement offers us a radically different image: A God who is strongly entangled with the whole of creation — right down to the very atoms of our being — by virtue of his being the source of the universe and everything in it.
In other words, the existence of quantum entanglement offers us a fresh perspective on God’s omniscience. It suggests that God’s awareness of the universe is not obtained through observation; it’s acquired via an intimate, instantaneous, “spooky” connection.
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Just as an object instantaneously knows and feels whatever happens to its entangled partner clear across the universe, God instantaneously knows and feels everything that happens to every single atom anywhere in the universe — and beyond. There’s no distance too great, no darkness too deep, to sever that deep, fundamental connection between Creator and creation.
As fellow travelers on this journey called life, we’re tempted to maintain a firewall between the realm of science and the realm of the spirit. We’re mistaught that the former deals in cold, hard facts, while the latter deals in blind faith. But when we look closely at the invisible, underlying architecture of reality, that wall crumbles.
Science does not erase the majesty of the divine; it illuminates it. It shows us that we live in a universe filled with unseen forces, deeply interconnected and governed by mysteries that should leave us filled with awe and wonder.
So, then, the next time you look up at the night sky, I encourage you to resist the impulse to look upon the cosmos as nothing but a collection of isolated, distant stars. Instead, allow yourself to behold it for what it really is: a grand, entangled tapestry!
Above all, consider this: The same invisible architecture that instantaneously and intimately connects physical objects across the cosmic void is of the very same design that connects you — instantaneously, intimately, and eternally — to the mind and spirit of God.
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American Culture Quiz: Test yourself on presidential proposals and astronaut appetites
The American Culture Quiz is a weekly test of our unique national traits, trends, history and people — including current events and the sights and sounds of the United States.
This week’s quiz highlights presidential proposals, astronaut appetites — and a whole lot more.
Can you get all 8 questions right?
Give it a try and see how you do!
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To try your hand at more quizzes from Fox News Digital, click here.
Also, to take our latest News Quiz — published every Friday — click here.
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Boatyard employee found ‘exhausted’ missing American’s husband when he washed ashore after night adrift
EXCLUSIVE: An overnight security guard at a boatyard on a Bahamian island encountered American man Brian Hooker when he washed ashore about eight hours after his wife disappeared into a dark and stormy sea last weekend.
Edward Smith works at Marsh Harbour Boatyards, a boat storage and repair facility in the tourist destination, and was alerted by another employee that a man had stumbled onto the property talking about a key and a woman.
That man was Hooker, 58, who is currently being held in a Freeport, Bahamas jail, after he said his wife, Lynette Hooker, fell off their dinghy while motoring back to their yacht from a bar in Hope Town.
On Saturday, April 4, Hooker and his wife had been dining and drinking at the Abaco Inn – a restaurant in Hope Town, known to locals as “Elbow Cay” – several miles by sea from the small beach covered by jagged rocks where he landed in Marsh Harbour.
“He said he was on a cay, like at a bar, having something to eat or drink, and they came out to go to another place or back to their boat, but somehow they got out in the rough weather, and they had that incident, the lady [went] overboard, or whatever,” Smith told Fox News Digital on Saturday.
Smith declined to be video recorded or photographed.
Hooker was arrested for questioning while police investigate Lynette’s disappearance. He told police that seas were rough just after sundown when the pair attempted to return to their yacht, and that Lynette fell overboard with the dinghy’s key in her pocket, cutting off the engine. Hooker drifted and paddled on the dinghy for the next several hours, eventually arriving on the boatyard’s shore around 4 a.m. the next day.
“He drifted from that time until the time he hit here,” said Smith.
HUSBAND OF AMERICAN WOMAN MISSING IN THE BAHAMAS SPEAKS OUT FOR FIRST TIME, SAYS HE IS ‘HEARTBROKEN’
Police have not charged Hooker with a crime, and he maintains that Lynette fell overboard by accident. He was arrested and transported to Freeport, a separate Bahamian island, on Wednesday. Bahamian law calls for a 48-hour limit to hold someone without charging them with a crime.
Under special circumstances, that time can be extended. In this case, it was, as Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, said Friday night that officials decided to keep Hooker in custody for up to another 72 hours. The deadline for his release is now Monday night at around 7:30 p.m., but he could be released at any time if authorities decide not to charge him.
He is being questioned in relation to the Bahamian crime “causing harm resulting in death.”
Smith said Hooker did not appear suspicious when the pair met.
“He was more exhausted than anything else,” said Smith. “He was asking for water. He wanted water to drink.”
“I asked him, ‘so where is the lady?’” Smith recalled. “He says, ‘she’s in the water.’”
Smith said he asked Hooker what time Lynette fell in the water, to which he replied 7 p.m., which shocked him.
“So I say, ‘from seven? And you’re just reaching [the shore] now?’” Smith said. “He said the wind was blowing so strong, so when that happened, the boat blew away from him and he couldn’t really see in the dark.”
According to Smith, Bryan told him that when he last saw Lynette, she was swimming back toward Hope Town with a yellow bag on her person. He said Hooker was wearing a yellow bag when he washed ashore, too.
Hooker told Smith he tried to signal for help from the small vessel.
“He said he sent up two flares,” said Smith. “The first flare he sent up, there was a boat that passed and they didn’t respond to it. He said another boat passed, he sent up another flare, and they didn’t respond to it.”
Smith called the police to assist Hooker. He said the police arrived at about 5 a.m., and Hooker was still talking to them when Smith’s shift ended at 7 a.m.
Bahamian authorities have been tight-lipped about the process, but the investigation into Lynette’s disappearance remains ongoing.
A second employee of the boatyard told Fox News Digital that police returned there Saturday, but did not elaborate on their activities.
A source with knowledge of the investigation told Fox News Digital on Saturday that authorities are searching for Lynette’s body near Hope Town.
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