Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) - Deciding on a place to call home can be a tough process. You’ll need to balance things like the cost of living with job opportunities, quality of education and safety. Personal preference also comes into the equation, as you’ll want to live somewhere with the types of attractions, recreational opportunities and weather that suit you. Luckily, there’s 50 states to choose from, from frigid Alaska to sunny Florida. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks.
If you do the math, some states clearly outshine others in various categories. To find out the best states to live in, the financial website WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 52 key indicators of livability, ranging from housing costs and income growth to education rate and quality of hospitals.
Hurting Nevada’s overall ranking (39th) were low scores in the ‘Education and Health’ (35th), ‘Affordability’ (39th) and ‘Economy’ (41st) categories. Nevada also had the third lowest homeownership rate and 5th highest housing costs. Nevada got better marks in the ‘Quality of Life’ (19th), and ‘Safety’ (18th) categories.
WalletHub is high on the east coast and down on the gulf coast when it comes to the overall rankings. 6 of the top ten states are out east, with Massachusetts topping the list. 7 of the bottom ten states are in the southeast, with Mississippi sitting at the bottom.
For a look at the rankings, click here.