Which state in the country is the best one? Feel free to use whatever criteria you like to make the determination. You decide the rules.
Share why if you wish.
(Hat tip to FiveThirtyEight.com for posting this question.)
Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
Which state in the country is the best one? Feel free to use whatever criteria you like to make the determination. You decide the rules.
Share why if you wish.
(Hat tip to FiveThirtyEight.com for posting this question.)
If you take any particular metric to measure a state, the state I live in, Massachusetts, is probably not number 1.
Best health care? Best education? Best music scene? Best theater district? Best economy? There are other states that have a claim to be tops in each of those categories.
However, Massachusetts is top five, or maybe top 10, in all of them. For all-around standard of living, the Bay State is at or near the top in just about whatever metric you choose.
In addition, if you look at the bad metrics: natural disasters, illiteracy rate, children living in poverty, etc., Massachusetts is at or near the bottom in all of them, as well.
Massachusetts does almost all of the good things well, and minimizes the worst parts of our society, which makes it the best in my book.
If you are a lover of diverse natural environments, then Washington state is the best, IMO. We have ocean beaches, a temperate rainforest, alpine regions, vast waterways, desert areas, fertile plains, river canyons and even an active volcano! Weather is temperate on the west side of the state with relatively warm winters and cool summers. The east side has more extreme swings between winter and summer temperatures. Yearly rain fall totals swing widely from less than 7 inches to a whopping 140+ inches! We also have the best air quality in the continental United States.
Washington is very diverse in it’s population, too. Many people from all over the world live here, so we have access to a wide variety of foods, cultures and music.
On the downside, our cost of living is a little high, especially for housing. Homelessness is a major issue. Depression rates are also high here as are rates of MS, melanoma and TB.
I guess the answer to this question would depend on your most favorable measurables.
To me, if the population was low and plenty of outdoor opportunities (hunting, fishing, kayaking, biking, trails, etc.) and the cost of living low – that would be an ideal state.
Colorado would be desirable except many places are densely populated and cost of living is high. Perhaps Wyoming or Montana.
Iowa is like a middle ground. Cost of living is low-er, population is lower in areas, but the outdoor opportunities are lacking in comparison to other states. I feel as though our neighbors, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota might be a little more favorable in those areas.