Living in Columbus as an adult, I loved how inexpensive it is. I’m a huge sports fan and there are plenty of college and pro sports in Ohio. The weather has four seasons, but none of them are extreme. If I didn’t love the Southwest as much as I do, I"d probably still be there.
West Virgina has always seemed like the most isolated state in the United States. It has always seemed like a place where people never leave but no one ever comes. The mountains are appealing, but the poverty that I’ve seen in the state was just appalling.
Any state with at least one SEC football team in it.
Texas–not in the SEC, but reasonably close and arguably semi-Southern.
11-50) Who cares? They aren’t in the SEC, and are probably cold, do not serve sweet tea, can’t cook grits, talk funny, talk too fast, and are far from my home.
Oops. I was cutting and pasting, and left out Maine. Maine should be 34 instead of Idaho twice.
I did some contract work for the State of Mississippi about ten years ago. The climate and the lack of a major urban area works against it. But, I loved the time I spent there. I’ve sat in the stands for Ole MIss football games and met a lot of nice people there. Low cost of living. Love those $50.00 hotel rooms.
I’ve thought about this before and I always eventually come to the conclusion that if I had my way (meaning if I was rich), I would have houses in several states.
I guess #1 would be some of the nicer areas of California, but I wouldn’t live there unless I was rich, #2 would be NY (Manhattan) but ditto about not living there unless rich. Number 3 is home sweet home, I guess. I like Florida, Ohio (it’s “classic middle America” as one of my good friends from Ohio puts it), CO, WA, parts of New England . . . the rest is fucking Iowa, as Silenus puts it :).
New Jersey
Hawaii (If independently wealthy)
New York
Maryland
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
Illinois
Washington
Oregon
California (Northern)
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Delaware
North Carolina
Virginia
South Carolina
Georgia
West Virginia
Indiana
Ohio
Vermont
New Hampshire
Kentucky
Louisiana (has to be New Orleans and in a high spot)
Missouri
Tennessee
Texas
Arizona
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Kansas
Wyoming
Alaska
Michigan
Florida
Montana
Idaho
Iowa
Nebraska
Colorado
Nevada
North Dakota
South Dakota
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Mississippi
Alabama
Arkansas
Utah
Among others, I took into account the following criteria:
-taxes (I like 'em low, especially income taxes)
-economy (I like it strong)
-politics (I lean moderately libertarian)
-education (I’m for it)
-health (for that too)
-crime (against it)
-cost of living (I like it low)
-climate (I can’t abide heat and humidity)
-topography (I don’t like flat)
-population density (I like my elbow room)
-and an entirely subjective gut feeling of how neighborly the residents are
Some criteria aren’t as important to me as they might be to other people (famous opera companies, professional sports franchises, bars per square mile, etc.).
I compared what I consider to be the best regions of each state. For example, parts of Wyoming are way too dry and economically depressed for my taste (e.g., Rawlins), but Wyoming ranks high because the best parts (e.g., Laramie) are much more to my liking.
New Hampshire
Alaska
Wyoming
Washington
Minnesota
Maine
South Dakota
Idaho
Colorado
Vermont
Wisconsin
Indiana
Nevada
Montana
Hawaii
Illinois
Arizona
New Mexico
Tennessee
Delaware
Pennsylvania
North Carolina
West Virginia
Utah
Oklahoma
Georgia
Tennessee
North Carolina
Virginia
Colorado
New Mexico
Illinois
Massachusetts
Florida (but only certain parts)
Kentucky
Oregon
Washington
Texas
California
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Alabama (northern AL)
Louisiana
Arkansas
New York
New Jersey
New Hampshire
Rhose Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
Michigan (da UP)
South Carolina
Oklahoma
Wisconsin
Mississippi
Ohio
Connecticut
Maine
Maryland
Iowa
Delaware
Minnesota
Missouri
Hawaii
Alaska
North Dakota
South Dakota
Arizona
Nevada
Indiana
Nebraska
Kansas
Utah
