Best and Worst States to Make A Living 2014 – All 50 States

Here are the rankings for all 50 states as they appear in MoneyRates.com's 2014 Best and Worst States to Make a Living study.

Written by Kristin Marino

Financial Expert

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Key Takeaways

Washington was the best place to make a living in 2014.
North Carolina was #25, or right in the middle of the best vs. worst places to make a living in 2014.
Hawaii was the hardest place to make a living due to the high cost of living and low wages.

So your state wasn’t one of the Best States to Make a Living or Worst States to Make a Living? You can see how it fared below in the full 50-state rankings.

Again, these rankings are based on each state’s Compensation and Quality Factor, a proprietary metric based on these factors in each area:

Average salary, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Cost of living, based on data from C2ER.
Employment rate, based on BLS data.
Workplace conditions, based on the “Work Environment” component of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

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Here are all 50 U.S. states as ranked by their working conditions in the 2014 MoneyRates analysis:

Kristin Marino

Managing Editor

Kristin Marino is a seasoned voice in the finance and education sectors, with rich experience spanning decades as a writer and editor. Kristin has lent her editorial financial expertise to platforms like MoneyRates, The Balance, and MoneyGeek. With a keen ability to distill complex financial concepts into accessible insights, she remains dedicated to guiding readers toward informed financial choices.