Posted by: Adam McCann

Deciding on a place to call home can be a tough process. You’ll need to balance things like the cost of living with job opportunities, quality of education and safety. Personal preference also comes into the equation, as you’ll want to live somewhere with the types of attractions, recreational opportunities and weather that suit you. Luckily, there’s 50 states to choose from, from frigid Alaska to sunny Florida. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks.

If you do the math, some states clearly outshine others in various categories. To find out the best states to live, WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 51 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs and income growth to education rate and quality of hospitals. Read on for the winners, additional insight from our panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Main Findings

 

Top States to Live in

Overall Rank (1=Best)	State	Total Score	‘Affordability’ Rank	‘Economy’ Rank	‘Education & Health’ Rank	‘Quality of Life’ Rank	‘Safety’ Rank
1	Massachusetts	66.77	43	2	2	3	4
2	Minnesota	66.00	6	11	3	10	12
3	New Hampshire	61.21	42	3	4	35	3
4	New Jersey	61.21	48	35	15	7	1
5	Colorado	61.14	25	4	8	12	29
6	Wisconsin	61.07	32	18	7	9	13
7	Virginia	60.98	18	13	19	19	10
8	Iowa	60.61	13	20	9	16	16
9	Utah	59.71	3	12	10	25	27
10	Idaho	59.04	7	5	27	29	14
11	North Dakota	58.90	20	1	14	46	17
12	Pennsylvania	58.84	31	37	28	5	8
13	Vermont	58.82	44	19	1	39	7
14	New York	58.60	50	26	25	1	2
15	Wyoming	58.21	4	16	18	36	15
16	Maine	57.68	35	14	11	33	11
17	Washington	57.45	37	8	6	8	39
18	South Dakota	56.84	19	6	17	42	20
19	Nebraska	56.26	29	17	13	32	21
20	Connecticut	56.17	46	42	5	18	9
21	Illinois	55.99	45	46	24	6	6
22	Florida	55.59	33	23	34	4	24
23	California	55.47	49	10	22	2	18
24	Montana	54.86	24	9	16	27	40
25	Michigan	54.66	23	27	30	13	25
26	Hawaii	54.19	41	7	12	41	19
27	Oregon	53.32	40	22	26	11	34
28	North Carolina	52.86	21	31	36	17	28
29	Rhode Island	52.86	47	32	21	40	5
30	Kansas	52.74	22	28	23	26	38
31	Maryland	52.67	34	39	20	20	23
32	Ohio	51.53	28	47	33	14	22
33	Missouri	50.96	11	24	32	22	44
34	Delaware	50.43	8	38	29	47	26
35	Indiana	50.39	5	36	37	28	35
36	Texas	49.70	36	15	41	15	32
37	Tennessee	48.11	15	25	38	30	42
38	Arizona	47.87	30	33	35	24	45
39	Georgia	47.52	26	40	43	23	33
40	Nevada	47.27	38	30	39	21	37
41	Kentucky	46.14	16	44	40	45	30
42	Oklahoma	45.51	12	29	46	37	43
43	West Virginia	45.16	2	41	47	50	31
44	South Carolina	44.09	14	34	42	34	49
45	Alaska	42.11	39	21	31	49	50
46	Alabama	41.91	1	43	48	44	46
47	Arkansas	41.50	9	45	45	43	47
48	New Mexico	39.83	27	50	44	31	48
49	Louisiana	39.79	17	49	49	38	41
50	Mississippi	38.67	10	48	50	48	36

 

Ask the Experts

Finding a good place to live requires looking at many different factors. For advice on the selection process and how states can make themselves a more attractive place to live, we turned to a panel of experts. You can click on the experts below to read their bios and responses to the following key questions:

1. What steps should a person take to determine if an area is right for him/her to move to?
2. What are the most important financial factors to consider when deciding where to live?
3. What can state policymakers do to attract and retain new residents?
4. In evaluating the best states to live in, what are the top five indicators?

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• John Gaber Ph.D., AICP – Professor and Chair, Department of City Planning and Real Estate Development, Clemson University

Methodology

In order to determine the best and worst states to live in, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five key dimensions: 1) Affordability, 2) Economy, 3) Education & Health, 4) Quality of Life, and 5) Safety.

We evaluated those dimensions using 51 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable living conditions. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across states.

Finally, we determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states in our sample.

Affordability - Total Points: 20

• Housing Affordability: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)Note: This composite metric comprises the following calculations: Median Home Price / Median Annual Household Income and Median Rent Price / Median Annual Household Income.
• Median Annual Property Taxes: Double Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric was calculated as follows: Median Real Estate Tax / Median House Price.
• Cost of Living: Triple Weight (~7.50 Points)
• Median Annual Household Income: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)
• Homeownership Rate: Full Weight (~2.50 Points)

Economy - Total Points: 20

• Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Underemployment Rate: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Economic Confidence Index: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: 1) how Americans rate current economic conditions and 2) whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all Americans were to say the economy is doing well and improving, and a theoretical minimum of -100 if all were to say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse.
• Share of Population Living in Poverty: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Median Debt per Median Earnings: Triple Weight (~3.33 Points)
• Population Growth: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: “Growth” compares the population size in 2017 versus in 2013.
• Income Growth: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: “Growth” compares the median annual household income figure in 2017 versus in 2013.
• Building-Permit Growth: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric compares the number of annual new, privately owned residential building permits issued between 2015 and 2017.
• Wealth Gap: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric measures the difference between the highest quintile and the lowest quintile of mean household income.
• General Tax-Friendliness: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “Tax Rates by State” report.
• Entrepreneurial Activity: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric is based on the Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, which is an equally weighted index of three normalized measures of startup activity, as defined by the Kauffman Foundation: the Rate of New Entrepreneurs (percentage of adults becoming entrepreneurs in a given month); the Opportunity Share of New Entrepreneurs (percentage of new entrepreneurs driven primarily by “opportunity” vs. “necessity”); and the Startup Density of a Region (number of new employer businesses, normalized by the business population).
• Job Opportunities: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Foreclosure Rate: Double Weight (~2.22 Points)
• Bankruptcy Rate: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Food Insecurity: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)

Education & Health - Total Points: 20

• Quality of Public School System: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s "States with the Best & Worst School Systems" ranking.
• High School Graduation Rate: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Population Aged 25 Years & Older with a High School Diploma or Higher: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Insured Population: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Quality of Public Hospital System: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)Note: This metric is based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ ranking of public hospital systems.
• Premature-Death Rate: Half Weight (~1.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the “Average Years of Potential Life Lost” rate. In other words, it refers to the average number of years a person dies before the age of 75.
• Poor or Fair Health: Half Weight (~1.00 Points)
• Life Expectancy: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Live Births with Low Birthweight: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Obese Adults: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)
• Share of Physically Inactive Adults: Full Weight (~2.00 Points)

Quality of Life - Total Points: 20

• Average Hours Worked per Week: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Average Commute Time (in Minutes): Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Miles of Trails for Bicycling & Walkingper Total State Land Area: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• “Bicycle Friendly State” Ranking (proxy for Bike Score): Full Weight (~0.95 Points)Note: The ranking for each state is based upon a weighted score based upon the state’s score in each of the six categories listed on the Report Card. The weighted category scores are supplemented by discretionary scoring that accounts for 10% of each state’s potential score. They include discretionary scoring to account for erroneous survey data, states with missing data, and other factors that do not easily fit within the survey data and public data used for the category scores.
  o Infrastructure & Funding – 20% o Education & Encouragement – 15% o Legislation & Enforcement – 15% o Policies & Programs – 20% o Evaluation & Planning – 20% o Discretionary Scoring – 10%
• Access to Public Transportation: Double Weight (~1.90 Points)Note: This metric measures the share of commuters who use public transit.
• Quality of Roads: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)Note: This metric measures the share of pavement in poor condition.
• Traffic Congestion: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Restaurants per Capita*: Double Weight (~1.90 Points)
• Bars per Capita*: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Museums per Capita*: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Performing Arts Centers per Capita*: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Movie Theaters per Capita*: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Fitness Centers per Capita*: Double Weight (~1.90 Points)
• Beaches per Capita*: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)
• Weather: Triple Weight (~2.86 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s “Cities with the Best & Worst Weather” ranking.
• Air Quality: Full Weight (~0.95 Points)

Safety - Total Points: 20

• Violent-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Property-Crime Rate: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Traffic-related Fatalities per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Total Law-Enforcement Employees per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

Videos for News Use:

• YouTube (for web embedding National)
• YouTube (for web embedding Massachusetts)
• Raw files (for editing into clips)

 Sources: Data used to create this ranking were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Council for Community and Economic Research, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, United Health Foundation, National Center for Education Statistics, American Medical Association, TransUnion, Indeed, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Data Institute, The Road Information Program, Gallup, Inc., Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Feeding America, Environmental Protection Agency, League of American Bicyclists, Renwood RealtyTrac and WalletHub research.

Image: Syda Productions / Shutterstock.com

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