California ranked No. 31 on WalletHub's list of the best states to live in, landing in the lower half of the rankings largely because of its high cost of living.
The Golden State finished just behind Missouri and ahead of Delaware.
The report looked at dozens of metrics to assess a state’s livability, including housing affordability, income growth, educational attainment, and hospital quality.
“When deciding on a place to move, you should first consider financial factors like the cost of living, housing prices and job availability,” Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, said in a news release. “Many states have strong economies, though, so you should also consider a wide variety of other factors, such as how where you live will impact your health and safety,
and whether you will have adequate access to activities that you enjoy. If you have children, a robust education system is also key.”
Here’s what to know about WalletHub’s report, including what it found for California and the rest of the nation.
What report found for California
With an overall score of 51.44, California ranked No. 31 on WalletHub's list of the best states to live in.
The state placed last for affordability. California also landed in the bottom half of the rankings for safety at No. 38.
It performed better in education and health and the economy, ranking No. 21 and No. 15, respectively.
California's strongest category was quality of life, where it ranked No. 2, trailing only New York.
10 best states to live in, WalletHub report says
Here are the 10 best states to live in, along with their overall scores, according to WalletHub’s report.
- No. 1: Idaho (60.15)
- No. 2: New Jersey (59.41)
- No. 3: Wisconsin (59.32)
- No. 4: Massachusetts (59.28)
- No. 5: New Hampshire (58.89)
- No. 6: Wyoming (58.71)
- No. 7: Utah (58.63)
- No. 8: Minnesota (57.94)
- No. 9: Pennsylvania (57.71)
- No. 10: Florida (57.48)
Lowest ranked states to live in, according to report
Here are the 10 lowest ranked states to live in, along with their overall scores, according to WalletHub’s report.
- No. 50: New Mexico (41.42)
- No. 49: Louisiana (42.27)
- No. 48: Mississippi (42.77)
- No. 47: Alaska (42.92)
- No. 46: Arkansas (43.29)
- No. 45: Nevada (44.54)
- No. 44: Oklahoma (45.47)
- No. 43: West Virginia (45.98)
- No. 42: Oregon (46.49)
- No. 41: Kentucky (47.59)
WalletHub’s methodology
To determine the best states to live in, WalletHub said it compared the 50 states across five factors — affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety — using 51 metrics.
Affordability was measured using factors including median home price, median household income, median rent, cost of living, and homeownership rates. To evaluate state economies, WalletHub examined indicators such as unemployment and underemployment rates, poverty levels, population growth, wealth gaps, job opportunities, foreclosure rates, and bankruptcies.
Education and health scores were based on measures including public school quality, high school graduation rates, the share of adults with a high school diploma, insurance coverage, and life expectancy. For quality of life, the analysis considered average workweeks, commute times, weather, fitness centers and museums per capita, road quality and beach accessibility.
Safety rankings were determined using factors such as violent and property crime rates, traffic-related fatalities per capita, and the number of law enforcement employees per capita.
Those metrics were graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 being the most favorable living conditions. WalletHub then took the weighted average across the metrics to derive an overall score used to rank the states.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: WalletHub names the best states to live. See where California ranks
