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What's Good

•21 percent of babies in Colorado are born via Cesarean section, among the lowest in our survey. The average is 27 percent.

•Air quality here is better here than most cities in our survey. Air quality has been linked to childhood asthma and fertility rates, among other things.

•Relative to population, Colorado Springs has more specialty retailers of healthy/organic foods and vitamins than most places in our survey.

•86 percent of Colorado Springs mothers attempt breastfeeding. That's the 8th highest percentage of any city in our report. The average for cities in our survey is 75 percent.

•10.1 percent of births statewide are attended by midwives, compared to a national average of 7.3 percent.

•According to our survey of park departments, for every 10,000 residents, Colorado Springs has 205 miles of public trails and pathways for hiking and stroller use, the highest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 79 trail miles for every 10,000 residents.

•With one acre of parkland for every 26 residents, there's 78 percent more public park space than average here, relative to population.

•Expecting and new moms have plenty of parks: Colorado Springs's ratio of parks to residents is 1 : 1,782. The average in our survey is 1 : 3,790.

•State laws require stringent background checks for day-care workers.

•There are 8.5 licensed day care centers for every 1,000 children under 4 years. The average city in our survey has 5.9.

•Colorado devotes more money relative to population than most states to child car-seat-check stations.

•Colorado Springs's violent crime rate is 45 percent lower than average, the 7th lowest in our survey, in fact.

•Pedestrians have a 76 percent lower than average risk of being killed by a motor vehicle here-among the safest in our survey.

Needs Improvement

•Colorado Springs babies are 18 percent more likely than average to be born with low birth weight.

•Once Colorado Springs mothers begin breastfeeding, they are 13 percent less likely than average to continue through 6 months. That's the 11th lowest level of follow-through of any city in our report.

•State laws do not require health insurance companies to provide or offer any fertility-related services.

•In a comparison of inspection schedules for day-care centers, Colorado requires less frequent visits than average.