There's no one perfect state in the US to live in, but you can likely find the perfect state for you. 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 (e.g., unemployment rate, job opportunities, and median debt); 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. Massachusetts shoots to the No. 1 spot, while Mississippi is last. See which other states made the top and bottom 10:
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)
See how other states fared
here. (Check out the
best states for millennials.)