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What's Good

•At $69, the average doctor's office visit here is the 6th lowest in our survey, compared to a national average of $82.

•Columbus has 36 lactation consultants for every 10,000 live births, the 8th highest ratio in our survey. The average city in our survey has 23 lactation consultants per 10,000 live births.

•Expecting and new moms have plenty of parks: Columbus's ratio of parks to residents is 1 : 1,914. The average in our survey is 1 : 3,790.

•Columbus has 20 licensed home day cares for every 1,000 children under 4 years, the 7th highest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 13.

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

•Pedestrians have a 61 percent lower than average risk of being killed by a motor vehicle here-among the safest in our survey.

Needs Improvement

•14 percent of pregnant women in Columbus admit to smoking during pregnancy, the 6th highest rate in our survey. Nationwide, 8 percent of pregnant women smoke.

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

•Just 60 percent of Columbus mothers attempt breastfeeding. That's the 5th lowest percentage of any city in our report. The average for cities in our survey is 75 percent.

•By six months of age, 67 percent of Columbus babies aren't being breastfed at all. That's the 10th poorest percentage of any city in our report. The average for cities in our survey is 57 percent.

•Not much can be done about the weather, but the local climate can be extreme -- not conducive to getting out and working off pregnancy weight gain.

•Columbus has one doula for every 1,165 live births, the 6th lowest ratio in our survey. The national average is one doula per 649 live births.

•The per capita ratio of advanced fertility clinics here is lower than any other city in our survey.

•Columbus has a 27 percent higher property crime rate than average, the 6th highest in our survey.

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