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What's Good

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

•According to our survey of park departments, for every 10,000 residents, Las Vegas has 200 miles of public trails and pathways for hiking and stroller use, the 2nd highest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 79 trail miles for every 10,000 residents.

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

Needs Improvement

•Compared to other states, Nevada has among the least generous family-leave and disability laws in our survey.

•Babies here are 14 percent more likely than average to be born prematurely.

•9 percent of pregnant women here receive late or inadequate prenatal care. That's the 7th worst score in our survey, compared to an average of 5 percent.

•31 percent of babies in Nevada are born via Cesarean section, among the highest in our survey. The average is 27 percent.

•Las Vegas has one doula for every 956 live births, the 10th lowest ratio in our survey. The national average is one doula per 649 live births.

•With one acre of parkland for every 325 residents, there's 174 percent less public park space than average here, relative to population.

•Expecting and new moms have few parks: Las Vegas' ratio of parks to residents is 1 : 8,126. The average in our survey is 1 : 3,790.

•Las Vegas has 4 lactation consultants for every 10,000 live births, the 2nd lowest ratio in our survey. The average city in our survey has 23 lactation consultants per 10,000 live births.

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

•Las Vegas has 1.1 NICU facilities per 10,000 births, 4th lowest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 3.4 NICU facilities per 10,000 live births.

•Las Vegas has only 3 licensed home day cares for every 1,000 children under 4 years, the 4th lowest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 13.

•There are no state laws requiring day care workers to undergo special SIDS prevention training. Many other states mandate such training.

•There are just 2.5 licensed day care centers for every 1,000 children under 4 years. The average city in our survey has 5.9.

•Las Vegas' violent crime rate is 125 percent higher than average, the 2nd highest in our survey, in fact.

•Las Vegas has a 98 percent higher property crime rate than average, the highest in our survey.

•Pedestrians have a 106 percent higher than average risk of being killed by a motor vehicle here-among the most dangerous in our survey.

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