Original article - CNBC - These are America’s 10 worst states to live in for 2026
The list from 10-1: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee.
So if its 10 to 1 Tennessee is the worst? I might be biased being from Nashville but its not worse then Alabama right, right?
You have hot chicken. Alabama has mosquitos and humidity. I would move to Tennessee first.
“Guys, the last thing we want is your approval.”
Why are they so mad? Who read it to them?
Nobody wants to admit their regressive policies create shithole states
That’s the point, they are almost always mad
That is why they are so mad, they don’t have anyone smart enough left to read it to them.
If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck…
It’s interesting CNBC posts this.
Americans starting to develop class consciousness and starting to hate capitalism? Quick! Get them squabbling about red vs blue again!
Chron:
CNBC gave each state a “Quality of Life” rating based on several key factors, including issues that have become political flashpoints, such as reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ protections and healthcare.
CNBC:
CNBC is placing increasing emphasis on Quality of Life, one of the 10 categories of competitiveness in our annual America’s Top States for Business study. It is our annual ranking of every state’s business climate, now in its 20th year. Under this year’s methodology, the category makes up 11.6% of a state’s overall score, up from about ten percent last year.
11.6%. Thanks Chron, for underplaying the fact that this wasn’t even a study about the poor QOL in these states, they just happen to have poor QOL. Not to mention in the QOL section there were some pretty important topics, like, you know, ability to put food on the table and violent crime.
“If Tennessee was really the worst state to live in, people wouldn’t be moving there in large numbers, which they are,” Desantis wrote.
MAGAs are so stupid, they ALWAYS miss the point. Tennessee, like Florida, is one of the most beautiful places in America. The problem is that it is filled with MAGAs. Having more of them move there is not making those beautiful places better. The reason they are bad states, and getting worse, is precisely because so many MAGAs are moving there.
And it’s making the places they are leaving even better.
Yes, but the point he’s making is that what’s best is subjective. If you’re looking for bad infrastructure, a lot of poverty, terrible education, no health care and few jobs then Tennessee may be exactly what you want.
*then
Thanks.
expect those loudmouth fascists to bitch and moan about every truth thrown at them. its just how the are
Odd that Mississippi isn’t on that last despite being a cesspool. I used to live in GA and even people from Alabama knew the only reason they weren’t the worst state in the US was because Mississippi exists
Mississippi is the anus of the US
TGFM (Thank god for Mississipi) is what allowed Alabama to be 49th on most quality of life metrics for so long.
I moved from the second worst, Texas, to on of the top 5, Connecticut, last year. It has been the best decision of my entire life. It’s so nice to have a Governor who advocates for more spending on education and public works. Versus wasting everyone’s time fighting to put the 10 commandments in classrooms.
My kids went from learning about angels and Moses parting the Red Sea history class. Yes regular 3rd grade history, not some high school level theology elective. To this year being taught critical thinking skills and identifying and dealing with their emotions.
And don’t even get me started on the differences in special education for my son with serve ASD and communication issues. In Texas he was just shoved in the back to prevent him from being a “burden”. Now he loves going to school. I cried at his 8th grade graduation because before he could have never been in at a ceremony like that. Hearing the other kids cheer for him warmed my heart so much. He starts highschool in the fall, and is in a summer program run by the highschool to teach him life skills, like cooking, cleaning, working, all things we never thought possible for him.
Edit: I also went from having my representative in Congress being a carpetbagger nepo-baby, to a woman who grew up in public housing, became a teen mom, worked her way from community college all the way to a masters in education and was name Teacher of the Year 2016 for the entire United States
Your story is amazing.
I’m so glad you got out of there.
Have you considered writing a book?
We moved from Texas to Seattle about 5 years ago (god, it’s really been that long). After 15 years living in Texas and fighting the schools, the government, and the weather (our house flooded twice, including one that was a near total loss), Seattle felt like heaven. Still does.
My kids were in middle school and had survivors guilt about leaving, like we were letting everyone in Texas down by not staying and fighting. I had to explain that Texas passed a law to allow people to sue us (I volunteered at an abortion charity) and we gotta go.
My rep in Congress now is the leader of the progressive caucus. It’s so weird to not be trying to chip away at the political situation and instead have someone that represents my beliefs.
Seattle was a top choice for us. CT just happened to work out better for us. And it is nice not to cringe the second you see a headline with your governor or reps name in it.
I have a comment about it somewhere in the Lemmies, but my family is from Texas, and my sister lived in Connecticut for a few years. Her children were still quite young when they all moved back to Texas, but there was still a noticeable drop in their development.
My sister did a pretty good job picking up the slack at home, but that’s a burdensome undertaking for someone with fewer resources. Working in public education myself, I see why we’re failing, and it’s really sad. It’s hard to create highly impactful lessons when your concerns are the students’ safety and security at home, your own job security if you stray at all from approved materials, and showing care and respect for children in a way that doesn’t get you fired for being “woke.”
Hey, fellow educator, I see you. I know that you and everyone in your school are doing your best to work within the constraints that have been dictated by your state legislature. Keep doing what you can to support your students, and don’t forget to take care of yourself in the process.
Thank you, but this is praise I do not deserve! I’ve tried my hand at teaching, but now I support the teachers and schools so that they can take care of the kids. I’ll help the kids where I can, but I’ve discovered that teachers are dangerously disturbed individuals. How else could they do what they do, put up with what they put up with, work so many hours, all for so little pay?
Teachers are some of the greatest people I know, but I treat all of them like unexploded ordinances. Like I tell all my coworkers, “When I’m superintendent, no campus administrator will make less than 6 figures, and new teacher pay will begin at $90K. I want teachers who fight for their opportunities, not for their meals.”
Thank you for all you do. I honestly don’t know how educators in Texas do it.
I don’t know either. I work on the technical side. I tried my hand at teaching and found children to be far too stressful for me on a daily basis. So, I do whatever I can to support the teachers, schools, and district.
Welcome to CT! It’s nice here.
Thank you!
And you just showed another reason I’m glad I moved here. People are genuinely nice here. Everyone always talks about southern hospitality, but it’s all just a front. Especially when they have billboards in Texas telling people to go back to California. Meanwhile every single person I’ve meet in CT has warmly welcomed me. I have wonderful neighbors who actually look out for each other. And I’ve never seen better customer service anywhere. Everyone here just seem happier which really makes the whole vibe feel more genuine.
I missed an opportunity to move to Hartford a couple years ago. I’m still sad about it. Love that you are loving it.
the second worst, Texas
As someone who lived in NJ before I moved to Texas, I gotta say, YMMV.
There’s plenty of corners of the two that might as well be the same place, in terms of infrastructure and education and public amenities. And there’s plenty of industrial shithole cities in each. Talking about either state holistically is foolish, especially for a state as big as Texas.
the top 5, Connecticut
Ah, yes. The country club of rich elderly NYC retirees.
You live elbow to elbow with the McMahons. You’ve got no room to brag about their politics. New Haven, Connecticut is the poster child for the toxic money hoarding bigoted spreadsheet cult that wrecked the county under Clinton and Obama. You have the nation’s neoliberal flagship university shoulder to shoulder with some of the worst slums in the country.
You people produced JD Vance and the Bush Family. You’re vampires on the neck of the planet. You suck.
I love how you tell me…
talking about either state holistically is foolish
Then proceeded to talk about CT holistically. What because the McMahons live here? In New Haven with Yale? Which I know this may come as a surprise, but I live a good hour and a half from New Haven. Also, I’ll take a few rich assholes over Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, Alex Jones, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and Brandon Gill.
But you know what I can talk about Texas holistically because I left due to the Government of Texas. Specifically how I don’t feel comfortable raising a special needs child and a daughter there. How the Attorney General is under FBI investigate, has been through impeachment, and is a front runner for the Senate. Or how Greg Abbott left us to freeze in 2021 and then didn’t do a damn thing about the grid afterward. How it was going to cost me at least $15k to sue the school district to make them provide the services my son is federally mandated to have. And afterward have no way of knowing if it was even being enforced. Or how the City of Denton got gerrymandered so it is in a district with Amarillo, over 325 miles away. I stuck around in Texas 10 years longer than I wanted to, because I thought I could make a difference. But the cards are stack so high against it, I had to get out for the well being of my family.
Then proceeded to talk about CT holistically
CT fits inside Dallas city limits.
And I didn’t talk about CT holistically. I very explicitly noted how the state suffers from extreme degrees of wealth inequality and segregation. The bits that get glazed by CNBC’s elitists are never Bridgeport or Derby.
But you know what I can talk about Texas holistically because I left due to the Government of Texas. Specifically how I don’t feel comfortable raising a special needs child and a daughter there. How the Attorney General is under FBI investigate, has been through impeachment, and is a front runner for the Senate. Or how Greg Abbott left us to freeze in 2021 and then didn’t do a damn thing about the grid afterward.
If you want to dig through the trash can of the state, I’m happy to see you Abbott and raise you Rowland, a shamelessly corrupt Bush Era crook who sought to rig the state’s elections and embezzle campaign money, while packing its state’s prisons full of the homeless and unemployed. Pardoned by Donald Trump back in his first term, incidentally. Thank your MAGA neighbors for buying him that Get Out Of Jail Free card.
Or Joe Lieberman, the war-mongering ultra-Zionist who has haunted Democratic Politics all the way back to the Clinton Impeachment, dumping billions of American tax dollars into bloody wars of conquest while backstopping the insurance industry that makes so many Connecticut residents so filthy rich. While he worked hand-in-hand with every Texas neocon ghoul from Phil Graham to John Cornyn, nobody in your state seemed to care enough to vote him out.
I stuck around in Texas 10 years longer than I wanted to, because I thought I could make a difference.
Enjoy Linda McMahon as a neighbor, then. Try not to let her husband rape your kids and shit on their foreheads.
A few things of note. First Rowland is no longer in office. And they actually start impeachment before he resigned and they still convicted him. Yet, Texas keeps electing these corrupt pedo protectors. The things he did that caused him to leave office and get convicted are what Abbott and Paxton would call a Tuesday. But yeah, lets bring up Senator who left office in 2013 and is dead. Ignoring Ted Cruz actively working to overturn the 2020 election.
And by the way, CT does not fit in Dallas city limits. Just to clarify Dallas is 385 sq miles. Connecticut 5,543 sq miles. Giving you the benefit of the doubt, we’ll say you meant the DFW metroplex, as in the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, and Denton, then you get 3,649 sq miles. Slightly more comparable in size. Now tell me Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, and Denton all have the same economics, culture, and demographics. Or if you really want to make it closer in size in we can add Wise and Ellis county. Because using your logic cities like Decatur and Ennis are comparable to Frisco and Arlington.
Also, isn’t Linda in DC now dismantling the Department of Education, making state without strong public education focus, aka Texas, even worse off than they were before?
Texas keeps electing these corrupt pedo protectors
Going right back to the McMahons with this one. Vince has been outed as a serial rapist repeatedly. Still calls Greenwich, CT his home-sweet-home.
Nevermind four prominent Connecticut residents, none of whom have been charged with a crime.
And by the way, CT does not fit in Dallas city limits
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex covers approximately 9,286 square miles, making it larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut combined, with 8,991 square miles of land and 295 square miles of water
Now tell me Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, and Denton all have the same economics, culture, and demographics.
They have many of the same damned people. From the Bush Family transplants back in the 1960s to the Frontier Communications CEO who relocated his firm just a few years ago. New Englanders have been flooding into the Gulf Coast for my entire life. I know because my family was part of the big Exxon wave that came down in the 80s. Most of my friends and neighbors were from families originally in Chicago or Massachusetts or California.
Cities like Austin and San Antonio keep sucking in the world’s worst billionaires, from Mark Cuban to Elon Musk. Coastal freaks from the right-wing shitholes of academia and business have absolutely ruined the state, buying it up and mutating it into whatever Ronald Reagan and Ayn Rand dreamed up together a generation ago.
I give CT hell, but you can go anywhere that’s got money and find rich assholes scrambling to pay a slightly smaller tax bill who come down here in waves. Texas has been outright colonized but coastal fucks.
9,286 square miles
That definition goes all of the way to Oklahoma, but you miss my point. Even in an area smaller than the state of Connecticut you get insanely different cultures. The point being, you can’t say that all of Connecticut is the same because it is smaller than Texas.
But serious if you only argument is the fact that Vince McMahon lives here then like I said, I’ll take it, over the fuck sticks Nazis living in Texas.
Have fun in the Texas heat. I’m going to take my dog for a walk in one of the 2 free state parks within 10 minutes of me, in 80 degree weather. Goodbye
It also seems worth noting that none of the shitty people he mentioned are elected officials in CT. “A terrible person lives in state x” doesn’t really reflect poorly on the rest of the populace the same way electing that person to represent and have power over you does.
Have fun in the Texas heat
Strangely enough, you’re getting the brunt of it this year. Maybe consider going carbon neutral some time before it’s too late, since you’re all liberals up there who will definitely do that… eventually.
Yup, sounds like you fit right in in Texas. Glad you found your people.
Anyone whose been here for more than ten minutes knows it’s all the same people
Thanks for being screw worm buffer zone. At least it’s giving nicer states more time to prepare.
Lived in NJ, now lives in TX, talks about CT like you know it. And yet, so wrong about literally everything.
The country club of rich elderly NYC retirees.
No, that would be Florida. Always has been.
New Haven, Connecticut is the poster child for the toxic money hoarding bigoted spreadsheet cult that wrecked the county under Clinton and Obama.
I don’t know what your definition of “bigoted” is, but now that you live in one of the most racist states in the union and seem to love it there I think I have a small idea.
You people produced JD Vance and the Bush Family. You’re vampires on the neck of the planet. You suck.
Vance is from Ohio, and HW Bush is from Massachusetts but moved to Texas after he graduated college.
So, you don’t seem to know anything about anything.
I wish you luck in Texas though. It’s fine unless you experience hardships of any kind. At which point you better hope your bootstraps are sturdy cause you won’t get any help from the state whatsoever.
talks about CT like you know it
It’s spitting distance from Queens, of course I know it. You can make it to Connecticut from New Jersey in less time than it takes to cross Houston. I can get lost on a mountain bike and end up in your tiny little Rayeon Acres business park of a state.
This is why you people are so insufferable. You’re in a carbon copy of Levittown, but it’s got a big sign that says “George Washington shat himself at the battle of Dickfuck Harbor on this very hill” so you think you’re special.
I just wanted to let you know, reading this has been like watching a toddler smearing themselves in cow shit, then turn to someone clean and start calling them shit-covered.
Don’t change, it’s too entertaining
CT types would certain know something about covering one another in shit.
Tell me you never have been to CT without telling me you’ve never been to CT, especially outside of Fairfield county.
not op, but i’ve been to new britain and bridgeport… it’s a decrepit and awful shithole! but also, at the same time, it’s WASP country
CT is crazy levels of wealth inequality, but that seems to be the status quo in most places these days…
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Wait a second, you mean the states that continuously divert money away from education, healthcare, public works, infrastructure and everything that would possibly make the people who live there’s lives better aren’t very nice to live in?!
(Live in TN btw, and yea that list tracks)
you mean the states that continuously divert money away from education, healthcare, public works, infrastructure and everything
Hey now! You take that back!
Lots of these states are building out enormous prison networks. Does that count for nothing?!
Sucks to suck.
Living in Indiana, there are some parts that aren’t too bad, but overall it does suck.
best thing to come out of indiana is I-94
Former Hoosier here (Indy). I miss the people we left behind in Indiana, but I do not by any means miss the government. Braun is a wannabe Trump whose only saving grace is that he’s really bad at it.
“Crime” is your state’s sole strength, apparently.
Bloomington is pretty great
Bohemian college towns tend to be pretty cool. Bloomington definitely doesn’t fit the standard Indiana mold
LMAO the vast majority of the population there can’t afford food or housing or healthcare because they’re the first places to fall into the grip of a christofascist coup that’s trying to take over the entire US government and making a pretty good go of it so far. What a bunch of rubes.
No Florida?
Infrastructure (440 points – 17.6%) Economy (415 points – 16.6%) Workforce (345 points – 13.8%) Quality of Life (290 points – 11.6%) Cost of Doing Business (285 points – 11.4%)
Technology & Innovation (245 points – 9.8%) Business Friendliness (225 points – 9%) Access to Capital (105 points – 4.2%) Education (100 points – 4%) Cost of Living (50 points – 2%)Florida probably pulled it out on business, Infra and Economy. They own tourism and have outlandishly good growing seasons for exports.
Having come from Arkansas moving to Missouri.
Yup.
Missouri is not even on the list.
Yes it is
Oh, you’re right. Small upgrade but upgrade nonetheless.
Honestly how I’ve been on the move. Little Rock is the biggest city in Arkansas, and Kansas City is a pretty big upgrade.
Honestly, I’d LOVE this city, if it weren’t for the state basically taking it and St. Louis as the places to screw over as much as possible.
Truth hurts. They feel the pain.
Because it is still cheaper do deny facts than fixing actual problems.
