Photo: Moment RF
WalletHub looked at all 50 of them, examining more than four dozen metrics in five main categories: affordability, including home prices, taxes, and cost of living; economy, education and health, covering everything from high school graduation rate and quality of schools to life expectancy and premature death rate); quality of life (think commuting time, traffic, and bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues per capita); and safety, which looks at the rate of violent and property crimes, as well as traffic-tied fatalities.
Best States
- Massachusetts (No. 1 in "Education & Health" category)
- New Jersey (No. 1 in "Safety" category)
- New York (No. 1 in "Quality of Life" category)
- Idaho
- Virginia
- New Hampshire
- Florida
- Wyoming
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
Worst States
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- New Mexico (last in "Safety" category)
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- Alaska (last in "Quality of Life" category)
- Mississippi (last in "Education & Health" category)
Check out where all 50 States landed here