Michigan lovers might take issue with a new ranking for the best places to live in the U.S.
WalletHub, a personal finance company, compared all 50 states to create a ranking of the best states to live in. Analysts considered affordability, the economy, education and health, quality of life and safety when creating the list.
Overall, Michigan ranked at number 32 out of the 50 states.
Other nearby states had higher rankings than Michigan: Indiana (27), Wisconsin (8), Ohio (30) and Illinois (16). And of the 12 states that make up the Midwest, Michigan came in last.
How did Michigan score?
The analysis ranked states based on the most important factors for a good life. Each state was also given a separate ranking for each category.
Here are Michigan’s rankings by category:
- Affordability rank: 15
- Economy rank: 42
- Education and health rank: 35
- Quality of life rank: 10
- Safety rank: 35
Michigan was ranked highly for both quality of life and affordability. However, the state ranked poorly for its economy and below average for education and health and safety.
The analysis also included rankings for individual categories like crime rates and housing costs. In those individual categories, Michigan scored fourth for homeownership rates,
Top five states to live in
Massachusetts took the top spot in the WalletHub rankings. The state’s excellent health care systems and education pushed it to the front of the pack.
- Massachusetts
- Florida
- New Jersey
- Utah
- New Hampshire
States on the east coast took home four of the top five spots–Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Florida are all highly ranked on the list of the best states to live in.
How the rankings were decided
The five key factors–affordability, the economy, education and health, quality of life and safety–were broken down using 51 metrics which were then weighed based on how important they were to livability.
For example, in the quality of life category, WalletHub compared data on hours worked per week, commute time, miles of trails for biking and walking, museums per capita, weather, access to public transportation and more.
The data come from a range of sources. Some of the metrics come from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while other information was gleaned from organizations like The League of American Bicyclists.
For a full breakdown of the process used to create the rankings, visit WalletHub’s methodology section.
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