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?
Newsletter Signup
Join the PWaC newsletter filled with credit card and travel tips
You have Successfully Subscribed!
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
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 
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.