# Most over-rated state to live in? (US only) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377 "2012-03-21T05:06:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/61 "2012-03-22T14:14:52Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I hail from the land of giant flying cockroaches. I’m not easily impressed. (And I did get eaten to hell by the mosquitos.) We love to vacation in Maine, but I would still laugh pretty hard at any Southerner who would want to move there. Most folks who visit Maine from June-September have no earthly idea what the place is like for the other 8 months. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/62 "2012-03-22T14:16:55Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > Texas deserves all the crap it’s getting in this post, but as a couple other posters have said, the topic is which state is the most overrated. I’ve never, ever heard anyone except Texans speak highly of Texas. Outside its own borders, it is not overrated. Therefore it is not the most overrated. > > In terms of, “which state do a great many people from all over think highly or very highly of, and yet is least deserving of this acclaim”, the answer, by far and without any doubt is California. Colorado, which is probably second, is a very, very distant second. California far far far far far and away. If we’re talking about truly overrated, then it’s a tie between Florida and California. All others are competing for a distant 3rd place. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/63 "2012-03-22T14:35:08Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Amen. Lived my first 54 years in San Diego. Left 7 years ago because “my” San Diego isn’t there any more. You got that right…_my_ San Diego (born there in '54) isn’t there anymore either. Neither is the San Jose I moved to in 1967. California has major problems with many different issues, but as messed up as things are, there’s no place in the world like it. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/64 "2012-03-22T15:45:04Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > California, full stop. Overpriced, overpopulated with the homeless, and ready to slide into an apocalyptic economic depression every other year. Every time I visit I wonder why anyone stays. > > ETA: This is too vitriolic, but I’m getting tired of people wondering why I don’t move to California. Honestly, people, where’s the appeal? The weather. At least in the lower half. - **Malleus** , who suffers terribly from winter depression (We should have a “most underrated” companion thread. Unless someone’s made one already. I for one am sick and tired of Jersey jokes). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/65 "2012-03-22T15:59:40Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > The weather. At least in the lower half. > > - **Malleus** , who suffers terribly from winter depression > (We should have a “most underrated” companion thread. Unless someone’s made one already. I for one am sick and tired of Jersey jokes). I was not generally impressed with San Diego weather. The June gloom, Santa Ana winds, 100+ summer days (in La Jolla, not desert!). Sure, some beautiful weather, but not the perfection everyone claims. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/66 "2012-03-22T20:44:59Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I was not generally impressed with San Diego weather. The June gloom, Santa Ana winds, 100+ summer days (in La Jolla, not desert!). Sure, some beautiful weather, but not the perfection everyone claims. Speaking again as someone who spent his first 54 years there, I agree. Even back in the days when the Santa Anas occurred only a couple of times a year in Fall, San Diego’s climate/weather has always been overhyped. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/67 "2012-03-22T20:55:43Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > If we’re talking about truly overrated, then it’s a tie between Florida and California. All others are competing for a distant 3rd place. I’ll grant you Florida over Colorado (or tied with it) I suppose, but there’s just no way any state, even Florida, is more overrated than or tied with California. I mean, I think overall California is pretty okay, maybe a C+, B-, but gap between how it actually is and how its enthusiasts portray it is almost unimaginably wide. That’s how I view it anyway; something can be pretty good, even great, and still be overrated. It’s all in the gap or ratio between reputation (or something like that) and reality. The Beatles were kind of overrated, after all. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/68 "2012-03-22T22:48:08Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > I’ll grant you Florida over Colorado (or tied with it) I suppose, but there’s just no way any state, even Florida, is more overrated than or tied with California. > > I mean, I think overall California is pretty okay, maybe a C+, B-, but gap between how it actually is and how its enthusiasts portray it is almost unimaginably wide. What about New York? So many New Yorkers seem to feel that NYC is the center of the known universe. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/69 "2012-03-23T15:07:57Z")
Now, I’m all for letting people vent. If you live in a city or state you hate, or USED to, and just want to fume a bit, hey, don’t let me stop you. Maybe it’s therapeutic. But do you really imagine the people who still live in the states you’re trashing were heartbroken when you left? Or that ANY of them are reading your rants and thinking, “By God, he’s right- we need to change and become more the way he wants us to be?” Of course not! So, by all means, trash Texas or Florida or wherever. Just so long as you know that the Texans and Floridians you mock are smirking, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.” The states you hate miss you even less than you miss them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/70 "2012-03-23T15:11:03Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The states you hate miss you even less than you miss them. Actually, we don’t even notice that they’ve gone. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/71 "2012-03-23T16:10:23Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > the overinflated sense of self-importance. They seem to have your attention. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/72 "2012-03-23T16:11:32Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Now, I’m all for letting people vent. If you live in a city or state you hate, or USED to, and just want to fume a bit, hey, don’t let me stop you. Maybe it’s therapeutic. > > But do you really imagine the people who still live in the states you’re trashing were heartbroken when you left? Or that ANY of them are reading your rants and thinking, “By God, he’s right- we need to change and become more the way he wants us to be?” > > Of course not! > > So, by all means, trash Texas or Florida or wherever. Just so long as you know that the Texans and Floridians you mock are smirking, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.” > > The states you hate miss you even less than you miss them. Lighten up, Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/73 "2012-03-23T16:44:19Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > California, full stop. Overpriced, overpopulated with the homeless, and ready to slide into an apocalyptic economic depression every other year. Every time I visit I wonder why anyone stays. > > ETA: This is too vitriolic, but I’m getting tired of people wondering why I don’t move to California. Honestly, people, where’s the appeal? You forgot about the rolling blackouts. I’ve known several people who’ve moved back from California in recent years, so apparently whatever appeal CA is supposed to have is starting to wear thin. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/74 "2012-03-23T17:49:34Z")
Wow, lots of piling-on to Cali. I will say this: i lived in Oregon a decade ago, and back then I heard a statistic that something like _40 percent_ of that state’s population at the time had moved there from California. Personally, my pick for this is Pennsylvania. The eastern half is economically depressed and corrupt. The western half is economically depressed and filled with some of the worst racism I can imagine exists north of Alabama. not much of a choice. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/75 "2012-03-23T18:01:35Z")
> [@Lizard](#): > > Wow, lots of piling-on to Cali. I will say this: i lived in Oregon a decade ago, and back then I heard a statistic that something like _40 percent_ of that state’s population at the time had moved there from California. > > Personally, my pick for this is Pennsylvania. The eastern half is economically depressed and corrupt. The western half is economically depressed and filled with some of the worst racism I can imagine exists north of Alabama. not much of a choice. Yeah, those hordes of people clamoring to pack up and move to Pennsylvania sure are silly! Let’s just go ahead an put PA in the same pile we put Ohio in, upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/76 "2012-03-23T18:32:16Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > What about New York? So many New Yorkers seem to feel that NYC is the center of the known universe. That’s because it is. The rest of New York is what prevents the state from being overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/77 "2012-03-23T18:38:13Z")
Texas. Lived there for several years and, given the option of moving back there or rolling naked in broken 40 ounce malt liquor bottles, my only question would be whether I can help drink the forties. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/78 "2012-03-23T20:16:54Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > 1. Re: women, Mark Twain said that Mormons were performing a public service by being willing to marry more than one of the hideous beasts in their ranks. So I’m not so sure of your claim in that regard. That was a long time ago. Since then the Mormons have been engaged in a breeding program that turns out these amazing chipper wholesome blond-haired blue-eyed very attractive men and women in droves. It’s a little uncanny, actually. (Yes, there are many brown-haired and brown-eyed Mormons, and even Mormons of other ethnicities (of which I am one), but there is definitely a type – if you’ve been around a bunch of them, you can often recognize a person from Mormon stock just by that particular attractive/wholesome look. ) ETA: What I actually came in to say… Colorado has Rocky Mountain National Park. But Utah has, well, practically the entire southern part of Utah. So I guess they tie for beautiful places, though it’s a matter of style as to which you prefer. I’ll go with Florida for overrated. Humid, cockroaches… ugh. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/79 "2012-03-23T21:05:22Z")
Its tiny, its rundown, its old, and its unemployed (11.3%)! Why this joke of a state is allowed to exist is beyong me-it should be absorbed by Connecticut. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377/80 "2012-03-23T21:11:24Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Its tiny, its rundown, its old, and its unemployed (11.3%)! > Why this joke of a state is allowed to exist is beyong me-it should be absorbed by Connecticut. Been my opinion for a decade. I really think we could take 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-over-rated-state-to-live-in-us-only/616377.md?page=5)