New England’s Best States To Make a Living
Friday, April 05, 2013
New England's lowest-ranking state, Rhode Island, scored #3 on the 10 Worst States to Make a Living, outdone by only Mississippi (#2 worst) and Hawaii (#1 worst for 3 years in a row).
Compiling the ranking
Using average wage and unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cost of living figures from C2ER (formerly ACCRA) and state tax information from Tax-Rates.org, MoneyRates.com calculated an average income figure for each state that included adjustments for taxes, inflation and the chances of finding a job in that state. Finally, those figures were furthered adjusted according to each state's Workplace Environment rankings from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll.
The Best 10
None of the 10 Best States to Make a Living in 2013 were in New England. Washington led the pack this year at #1, followed by Virginia at #2, Colorado at #3, Texas at #4, and Wyoming at #5. Rounding out the Top 10 were Minnesota (#6), Nebraska, (#7), Utah (#8), Kansas (#9), and Oklahoma (#10).
To see more about the Best and Worst, as well as how all of New England's states did, see below.
Sources: Unemployment rates for February, 2013 from Bureau of Labor Statistics, Median household income 2011 from US Census; Average income tax rates from http://www.tax-rates.org, Work environment rank from Gallup Well-Being Index 2012.
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