In trying to decide where to live, it started to seem like I was focusing on negatives of great places to attempt to disqualify them. Obviously, every place has enough negatives to disqualify it, which meant that mediocre places were being considered. In an attempt at a different tactic, I decided to rank the 50 states and DC from least to most desirable. This is a rough first pass that attempts to include social, political, and geographic considerations, but was an interesting exercise all the same.
Oklahoma
Kansas
Mississippi
Delaware
Missouri
Louisiana
Arkansas
Georgia
Nebraska
Alabama
Indiana
South Carolina
North Carolina
Iowa
North Dakota
South Dakota
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Illinois
Arizona
Ohio
Kentucky
Tennessee
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Alaska
Florida
Texas
Virginia
Maryland
Rode Island
Connecticut
Utah
Colorado
West Virginia
Hawaii
Nevada
--Top 10--
DC
New Hampshire
Maine
Vermont
New Mexico
Washington
Massachusetts
New York
Oregon
California
Some of these are obviously ties, and some of them are semi-random, thus, if you took any 10 states, their position would probably move within that range. For example, is Vermont actually better than Maine and New Hampshire? Does Austin or the Keys actually buoy Texas or Florida above Alaska? Towards the bottom, one gets into the states that would never be considered, so does it really matter? Is Oklahoma really worse than Missouri? Kansas is unfairly low, as Lawrence seems pretty reasonable, but most states have a cool town, so how high should Lawrence lift Kansas? Up to Nebraska? Probably, but does Lawrence make it better than Georgia? At least Atlanta would be easy to fly out of, which would be better than the presumed isolation of Lawrence. In the end though, anything below about 20 is probably not worth considering. That said, maybe a great job (a total wild card in this ranking) could boost any state into the top spot.
The real surprise: West Virginia at 13!
DC seems the surprise to me. While it's fun to visit, it's an odd place to live. Seems like it takes a long time to leave the city behind anywhere on the east coast anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo far, Austin is bearable. I am having mild anxiety about being in the MIDDLE OF TEXAS though. If I fly all the time, I never have to drive through it again.
~Jessi
I actually thought of you a lot when I let Texas get buoyed by Austin. I can definitely see how being in the middle of that state would be a major psychological issue with Austin not being quite weird enough.
ReplyDeleteAs for DC, escaping is a major issue (as with any of the big cities). It has some other things going for it though. The common spaces and Metro are a big plus for it. As are the politics, even in the much more conservative Virginia, the people of Northern VA are dedicated to creating a solid school system. Perhaps the two things that seal the deal, Sticky Fingers bakery (http://stickyfingersbakery.com/) and a license plate that reads "Taxation Without Representation."