50 States Ranked…Florida not too shabby

It's easy to see why over half of Oregon is desirous of leaving the state to join #3 Idaho. The folks living on the left coast have ruined Oregon just like California.

I love Washington. I keep hoping the state is salvageable from a political standpoint. When I several times visited family in the Seattle area in the mid 80s, the people I met kept saying they didn't want transplanted Californians to "Californicate" Washington. It obviously happened anyway. People fled California to Washington but took their voting habits with them. There really is no finer state in the nation for varied scenic beauty, just have to live with a lot of cloud cover and rain during the fall and winter when storm after storm rolls in off the Pacific Ocean. Folks living in the Seattle area can boat in the San Juans or on Lake Washington in the morning and then snow ski in the afternoon.

Alaska should be dead last. Strange to see Louisiana ranked 50th.

 

If you do stay, register and vote republican.

 

I am in #1 Utah.

 

Utah is nice. Visited my brother last year and doing it again this year. People are so friendly there.

 

Don’t let that fool you. I always say when I lived in Florida, I knew who my friends were. In Utah, I have no idea who my friends are. People are two faced here like no other.

 

If it is as you say, why would someone visit?

 

Was in Bend last October. Great breweries, phenomenal mt biking.

 

I love it out there. Considering making the move. It’s gotten quite expensive though.

 

The part of Oregon that would make the move is a desolate wasteland so there would be loss there. It’s funny you extol the virtues of Washington when it’s basically a twin to Oregon and has been more progressive than Oregon in many respects.

 

I used to love living in Florida but now days it is getting tougher. I don't speak Spanish.

 

I agree Alaska should be last. No desire to ever live there. But I'm not surprised by Louisiana. I love my home state, but it's a mess. Politically it's still corrupt, though I'll give Landry credit for helping that. NOLA is still a shadow of what it was, but NOPD has been on the up and up. The consent decree for NOPD is mostly done and with state assistance crimes have been getting solved much quicker. Violent crimes in NOLA have gone down significantly.

But Louisiana is still a mess. We have an income tax as well as high (if not the highest) sales tax. We have sales tax on groceries which Florida doesn't do and I think is right. Louisiana is the one state with more insurance issues (both homeowners and auto) than Florida. At least Florida is trying to do something about it, Louisiana isn't. Plus there's no economic future in Louisiana.

If I could get a comparable job in my field in Louisiana I would seriously consider moving back, but you can't. Unless you work in O & G (whether in a corporate setting, at a refinery or out in the gulf), at the port, or in healthcare, you'll get stuck working menial hospitality, restaurant, hotel positions.

It's sad because Louisiana has such potential. NOLA could easily be another Nashville or Austin if it truly wanted to. With that said, part of me is glad it hasn't happened, because then Louisiana and NOLA would be facing the same challenges that Florida, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina are facing with the huge influx from the Northeast and/or California. And they would destroy the local culture in Louisiana.

The one that surprised me was South Carolina at #40. Seems like a fairly low tax state and a nice state overall. I'm biased as I have never lived there, so I've really only seen parts of Greenville as well as the low country area of Charleston, Beaufort and Hilton Head Island. I'm guessing it's the middle part of the state that brings it down.

 

On another note, I know Mississippi always gets trashed in these ratings, but the Mississippi Gulf Coast is an underrated gem. I hope it stays that way. I know a lot of people are moving or looking to move from Louisiana to Mississippi because of the recent income tax change, but at least it's still the same general area/culture.

Mississippi will always be drug down by Jackson (probably the worst capital city in the U.S.), the I-20 corridor and the Delta region (with all its poverty, truly a flat version of Appalachia), but the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Oxford and far northern Mississippi (the Memphis suburbs) are IMO genuinely nice and underrated areas.

 

Two issues:

I did mention that I hope for their salvation from leftist policies.

There is no denying the beauty of the state.

 

Mississippi, the home of the best HGTV program, Hometown. I like the Mississippi Gulf Coast as well living close by in Northwest Florida, just a skip and a jump.

 

Don't have to speak Spanish in Pensacola. The city is alive like never before.