The other day, I wrote an article with a link to a Business Insider article titled “After visiting all 50 states, there are only 3 I’d choose to live in“. I tried to make this clear in my original post, but that was just a link to an article that I found interesting and was not necessarily my own opinion. The author’s 3 states (if you don’t want to read the article) were New York, Wyoming and Rhode Island – truly an eclectic trio.
There were a few people in the comments who disagreed with the article, so I thought maybe I’d take another look at different lists of “The ‘Best’ State to Live in”. Of course choosing where to live is a hugely subjective decision based on a number of factors that are likely to be different for everyone. But let’s not stop that from TRYING! :-). Here are a few lists I found – I limited it to ones who at least TRIED to be somewhat subjective (unlike the earlier article)
US News And World Report
Of course US News and World Report has a list for this, since they have a list for everything. They ranked the 50 states in Crime & Corrections, Economy, Education, Fiscal Stability, Health Care, Infrastructure and Natural Environment and used that to come up with a somewhat objective ranking.
Their top 10 states to live in were:
- Utah
- New Hampshire
- Nebraska
- Minnesota
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Vermont
- Washington
- Florida
- Massachusetts
Bottom three were Mississippi, New Mexico and #50 Louisiana. I could actually see myself living in some of these top 10 states, though I am a) white and b) a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, so Utah is probably higher up on my list than many. If you are one or zero of those things, I could see it perhaps being less attractive.
WalletHub
WalletHub has a similar list. Their methodology used several statistics grouped under the headings of Affordability, Economy, Education and Health, Quality of Life and Safety, and their top 10 is
- Massachusetts
- Florida
- New Jersey
- Utah
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin
- New York
- Wyoming
Bottom three were Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana.
The Bottom Line – The Best State To Live In
All of the other lists that I found pointed back to either the US News or the Wallethub version. I was kind of surprised that Ranker didn’t have a list for this, since that’s kind of their thing, ya know? They had lots of lists of states but none that I saw that specifically was the best state to live in (maybe I missed it).
Personally I do like my home state of Ohio (#36 according to US News and 30th via WalletHub) but maybe that’s just because it’s the only place I’ve ever really lived. Guess it’s time to start traveling more :-), though there’s a big difference between how you experience a place when you live there vs. when you’re just there on vacation.
Okay – now it’s your turn. What’s your pick for the best state to live in?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
I am not LDS but think Utah looks like a great place to live. 5 gorgeous national parks, skiing, a Shakespeare festival in Cedar City and more. Never lived there but enjoyed traveling there immensely.
New Mexico is pretty nice to visit. 5th largest state for those who wonder what comes after Montana.
Arkansas had lots of hills and trees when I’ve visited.
Louisiana was beautiful.
There seems to be a bias in favor of the northeast states. Beauty wise they are decent but not nearly as spectacular as many western states. The mountains are puny. The beaches aren’t that great. The only reason I’ve visited was to see the cities. I wouldn’t care to live in them though. If I want to live in a city. San Diego has great weather and nice beaches.
Regarding San Diego, nowhere in The Failed State has any charm for me. The smog, the fires, the traffic, the homelessness, the politics and the taxes just don’t cut it. And now that Valley Fever is on the rise – the state is just a few plagues short of Moses pulling the plug.
Re San Diego: seldom has smog being on the coast. I’ve visited numerous times and never seen smog but haven’t lived there. Fires: the Pacific Palisades and Altadena fire were very unusual in thet lots of houses were consumed. Fire is part of the ecosystem here. If one lives in a normal neighborhood it’s highly unlikely you will be threatened by fire. A dry winter and high winds contributed to the January fires. Traffic and homeless are there. It’s not as bad as LA but that’s not saying much. Homeless camps have been broke up all over California lately.
Taxes are high if you make a lot of money. My property tax was about $1600 last year on a house I bought for $80k 38 years ago. I didn’t pay any income tax on about $70k gross due to some write-offs. This year I expect to pay a few hundred bucks.
California is 1st on my list. Natural beauty and diversity, cultural attractions and history, weather, food, etc.
And yes, I have spent time in almost every state and lived long term in more than a half dozen of them, not to mention in several other countries.
Please disagree with me and don’t move here. The population growth over the last few decades is the worse thing about the state.
I’d say the politics is the worst thing but agree, don’t move here.
If money were no object, I would summer in Maine, enjoy the fall foliage, then scoot to Palm Springs, CA for the fall/winter then do spring in Virginia.