CT's 2019 Ranking Among Best States To Live In May Surprise You

CONNECTICUT — If we as Connecticut residents didn't have to deal with the absurdly high cost of living and the poor state of the economy, Connecticut might indeed be the best place to live in America.

WalletHub crunched the data and released its 2019’s Best States to Live in list on Tuesday and maybe, somewhat surprisingly Connecticut was ranked the 20th best state to live in. This is an exceptional rating once you realize Connecticut was ranked 46th when it pertains to affordability and 42nd on the topic of the state's sluggish economy.

But in the area of education, Connecticut ranked fifth best, and our state is the ninth safest in the country. Even our "quality of life" was ranked No. 18. All in all not too bad, minus our economy and the cost of living.

Connecticut was ranked No. 3 in having the lowest percentage of population living below the poverty level.

Here are some other key stats WalletHub found concerning Connecticut: 29th in housing affordability, 47th in property taxes, 44th in cost of living, 24th in home ownership rate, 31st in unemployment rate, 38th in economic confidence, 46th in population growth, 45th in income growth, 47th in wealth gap, 49th in general tax friendliness, 37th in job opportunities, 3rd best in quality of public schools, 15th best in high school graduation rate, 8th best when it comes to quality of hospitals, fifth best in health, third best in life expectancy, eighth best in having a low obesity rank, 15th best in beaches, but we ranked a poor 45th in the area of our roads.

WalletHub said it devised its newest rankings based on 51 key indicators of livability. They range from housing costs and income growth to education rate and quality of hospitals.

According to WalletHub the five best states in America to live in are: Massachusetts, No. 1, Minnesota, No. 2, New Hampshire, No. 3, New Jersey, No. 4, and Colorado, No. 5. Again, Connecticut was ranked 20th best.

The worst five states to live in are: Mississippi, No. 50, Louisiana, No. 49, New Mexico, No, 48, Arkansas, No. 47, and Alabama, No. 46.

Here are some observations via WalletHub:

Best vs. Worst

• Utah has the highest quality of the public hospital system, with 81.83 percent of patients giving their hospital a rating of 9 or 10, which is 1.5 times higher than in New Jersey, the state with the lowest at 54.33 percent.
• New Hampshire has the lowest share of residents living in poverty, 8.10 percent, which is 2.7 times lower than in Mississippi, the state with the highest at 21.50 percent.
• South Dakota, has the shortest average commute time, 17 minutes, which is 1.9 times shorter than in New York, the state with the longest at 33 minutes.
• Maine, has the fewest violent crimes (per 1,000 residents), 1.21, which is 6.9 times less than in Alaska, the state with the most at 8.29.

>>>Read the full WalletHub report here.