# Rank the 50 United States in your order of preference **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774 "2008-10-07T00:58:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/41 "2008-10-07T16:54:03Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Why so much dislike (in general) for Florida? > > Sure the northern part of Florida ain´t too cool, but other than that bit, it´s a fine state, IMHO. > > I do think laws in Florida are a little harsh. > > But it has nice weather, nice cities the people for the most part are nice. A lot of people are irrationally opposed to humidity, made up their mind a long time ago, and the topic is no longer open for discussion. I’ve spent a lot of time in Miami and I’ll admit as a person whose favorite season was summer growing up, it was a little too hot even for me at times. Other than that I love it, though. And really, hot is hot. The “dry heat” that everyone talks about in AZ is just as bad as any humid heat. Sure, it feels nicer when you compare it at the same temperature, but it’s often 25 degrees hotter here. At those kind of numbers, throw out the effect humidity has. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/42 "2008-10-07T16:57:20Z")
Top: Maine New Mexico Wyoming Colorado Arizona Nevada Washington Oregon Montana Pennsylvania Middling: Texas Massachusetts Idaho Vermont New Hampshire Rhode Island Wisconsin North Carolina Virginia New York Tennessee Georgia Maryland Kentucky California South Carolina Minnesota Iowa Indiana Louisiana West Virginia Florida Bottom: Ohio Oklahoma Michigan Alabama Illinios Both Dakotas Delaware Kansas Nebraska Mississippi New Jersey (except Cape May) Arkansas Connecticut Don’t know anything about Hawaii or Alaska ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/43 "2008-10-07T17:07:39Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > 1. Any state with at least one SEC football team in it. > 2. 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. I think I love you. But not on Saturdays - that’s football time. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/44 "2008-10-07T17:23:12Z")
1. California 2. Colorado 3. Idaho 4. Washington 5. Oregon 6. Hawaii 7. Arizona 8. Montana 9. Iowa 10. Nevada 11. Alaska 12. South Dakota 13. Illinois 14. Louisiana 15. Missouri 16. Massachusetts 17. Ohio 18. Minnesota 19. Wisconsin 20. Mississippi 21. Georgia 22. Alabama 23. Virginia 24. Pennsylvania 25. North Carolina 26. South Carolina 27. Maryland 28. Kentucky 29. Indiana 30. Connecticut 31. West Virginia 32. Rhode Island 33. Tennessee 34. Maine 35. Vermont 36. Delaware 37. New Hampshire 38. Michigan 39. Utah 40. Wyoming 41. North Dakota 42. New Mexico 43. Nebraska 44. Kansas 45. Arkansas 46. Oklahoma 47. Florida 48. New York 49. New Jersey 50. Texas The top 20 and bottom 10 are right on the list is pretty relative after that and a lot of states blend together. I’ve lived in California, Colorado and spend enought time to have lived there in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/45 "2008-10-07T17:56:22Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Why so much dislike (in general) for Florida? > > Sure the northern part of Florida ain´t too cool, but other than that bit, it´s a fine state, IMHO. > > I do think laws in Florida are a little harsh. > > But it has nice weather, nice cities the people for the most part are nice. For me, it is just too darn hot for too much of the year. I like Northern Coastal states. That is me and I don’t expect others to be similar. I do wonder how many of the low ratings on New Jersey are based on Rep and TV and how much on real experience. I have been nearly more than half of the US and I live in Jersey as I love it. I moved back here from San Diego. For every bad thing about this crowded state it has many things to recommend it. I understand \*\*NinjaChick \*\*lived here and hates it, but do the rest of you that have it near the bottom actually know Jersey? We have almost everything in one of the smallest states. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/46 "2008-10-07T17:58:58Z")
1. Texas 2. Anywhere else ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/47 "2008-10-07T18:10:44Z")
I notice most people are putting Kansas in the bottom 10. Now I wouldn’t want to live in most of Kansas, but, the better parts of Kansas City are indeed in Kansas, which is why I ranked it high. I’ve always thought of KC as a very nice town, but YMMV. Are people ranking Kansas so low not considering the nice part of KC, or is the ranking in spite of KC? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/48 "2008-10-07T18:19:06Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#): > > I notice most people are putting Kansas in the bottom 10. Now I wouldn’t want to live in most of Kansas, but, the better parts of Kansas City are indeed in Kansas, which is why I ranked it high. I’ve always thought of KC as a very nice town, but YMMV. > > Are people ranking Kansas so low not considering the nice part of KC, or is the ranking in spite of KC? Kansas is in my bottom half of places where I would really not to live. I did not put a lot of thought into my bottom part as I just would not want to live in those states. For me it is about climate and location more than anything else. If I had to live in Kansas, I would want it to be very near KC. But even KC is not enough reason to live in Kansas if I had a choice. I just prefer the Northern Coastal States. So why did you put New Jersey last? Running joke or serious consideration? ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/49 "2008-10-07T18:21:55Z")
I’m only really willing to live in California or Massachusetts so they’re probably at the top of the list. Illinois was quite nice when I lived there (Champaign-Urbana). My sister was at Northwestern at the same time so I used to really like to go visit her and my brother-in-law up in Chicago. Near bottom would be Indiana. I worked on a campaign for the Democrats during the 2000 elections and I was assigned there. The less said the better. The two black kids on the campaign and I were taken aside and shown on a map areas in which we were “advised not to wander.” It did not do much to endear me to that state. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/50 "2008-10-07T18:26:15Z")
[ol] [li]New York (but only Manhattan, and only if I didn’t have kids)[/li][li]Hawaii[/li][li]North Carolina[/li][li]New Jersey (plenty of very nice areas; a few miles of hell on Earth, but my home for most of my life. You gotta problem with that? :dubious:)[/li][li]Washington[/li][li]Louisiana[/li][/ol] 7 - 49. The Rest 50. California ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/51 "2008-10-07T18:37:24Z")
[quote=“Zoe, post:28, topic:466774”] I just can’t do it by states. I have favorite spots within states. 1. Gibson County, Tennessee, mid-Twentieth Century QUOTE] whoa! i actually lived there mid century! what did you like about it? ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/52 "2008-10-07T18:43:35Z")
California New Jersey Hawaii New York Connecticut Pennsylvania Washington Oregon Florida Delaware Maryland Rhode Island Massachusetts North Carolina South Carolina Virginia Illinois Georgia West Virginia Indiana Ohio Vermont New Hampshire Louisiana Texas Arizona New Mexico Colorado Nevada Oklahoma Kansas Wyoming Alaska Michigan Missouri Tennessee Montana Idaho Iowa Nebraska Kentucky Utah Maine North Dakota South Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin Mississippi Alabama Arkansas ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/53 "2008-10-07T18:47:52Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > So why did you put New Jersey last? Running joke or serious consideration? That’s a fair question. I’m really not much for the high population density of the eastern seaboard. The only reason Mass and NY are so high on my list is that I assumed I could choose to live in Mannhattan or a very specific part of Boston, where the fun aspect \*could \*outpace my dislike of dense populations and cold weather. Also, I went into the excersise planning on a two year move. While Boston and New York City have a lot of things I don’t like about them, I feel like they would both offer a unique life experience for a couple years. Would I do it for 10? Hell no. I guess I feel like New Jersey has all of the things I don’t like, but no place particularly unique like NYC and Boston. So, I did put some thought into it, I know Jersey isn’t covered in garbage and mob corpses. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/54 "2008-10-07T18:51:57Z")
I’ll have to go with Texas. You can have your pick of snowy plains, desert mountains, rolling hills, large urban centers, piney woods, gulf beaches, and tropical climes. and no state income tax. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/55 "2008-10-07T19:04:42Z")
> [@T\_SQUARE](#): > > I notice most people are putting Kansas in the bottom 10. Now I wouldn’t want to live in most of Kansas, but, the better parts of Kansas City are indeed in Kansas, which is why I ranked it high. I’ve always thought of KC as a very nice town, but YMMV. > > Are people ranking Kansas so low not considering the nice part of KC, or is the ranking in spite of KC? Most of my experience has been with the western part of the state, Fort Hayes and Kanerado. i’ve been to the eastern part over by Pittsburg and I didn’t really like it either. It is a flat and boring state what I’ve seen of KC was in Missouri and it was a forgettable big city. I liked all of the trees up by Rola, Missouri, which moved it up my list. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/56 "2008-10-07T19:09:58Z")
I’m not going to rank all 50, but my top 5 would look something like this: Washington Oregon Minnesota Wisconsin (beer, cheese, sausages, what’s not to like?) (Northern) California I’m not sure about the order, though. The next tier would include New York, Alaska (for its nature), Vermont, maybe Hawaii, maybe Massachusetts, and North Carolina. The bottom tier for me would probably be Indiana, West Virginia, Nebraska, Kansas, and North Dakota. Ohio would almost make the list, but it’s just too varied a place, and they’ve got some good fried chicken down in Barberton, so they make up for the, um, weirdness I seem to always encounter in more isolated areas of Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/57 "2008-10-07T19:13:39Z")
Just to say, before I moved here, Mississippi was at the bottom of my list as well. But now I wouldn’t live anywhere else. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/58 "2008-10-07T19:24:02Z")
> [@hellpaso](#): > > I’ll have to go with Texas. You can have your pick of snowy plains, desert mountains, rolling hills, large urban centers, piney woods, gulf beaches, and tropical climes. and no state income tax. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don’t give the silly yankees anymore reason to continue to move down here in droves and screwing things up for the rest of us. The more of them that think that Texas is one vast oil field the better. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/59 "2008-10-07T19:30:03Z")
South Dakota Florida Kentucky Oregon Texas----I flip flop on Texas; it’s very much a love-hate thing. For the rest, one is like another, barring weather. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774/60 "2008-10-07T19:33:30Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don’t give the silly yankees anymore reason to continue to move down here in droves and screwing things up for the rest of us. The more of them that think that Texas is one vast oil field the better. I think most of know that Texas is a huge diverse state. In fact for some of us the huge part is a downside. To put things in perspective, Dallas is further from Houston than Cape May is from High Point State park\*. In fact, NYC, AC, Philly, Boston, Baltimore and DC are all closer to me than Houston is to Dallas. Texas distances are just too much and for me it is mostly the fact that it is too hot. - The far south east point to the northwest corner of NJ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rank-the-50-united-states-in-your-order-of-preference/466774.md?page=4)