WASHINGTON (WVLT) -- Tennessee ranked fortieth in a new survey of the best places to raise your child. In fact, the entire bottom quartile was dominated by states from the South and Southwest. Only the southern states on the Atlantic coast finished outside the bottom twelve and they still found themselves ranked in the thirties.

Using 2007 numbers to rank the states across seven domains, Tennessee performed worst in health at 45th. It also finished in the bottom ten in Safe/Risky Behavior, Education Attainment and Community Engagement. The Volunteer State did crack the top ten in the Emotional/Spiritual domain. The other two domains in which the state finished mid-pack were Family Economic Well-Being and Social Relationships.

These numbers actually exhibit a slight decline from the last time the Foundation for Child Development conducted the survey in 2003.