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Best and Worst States to Make A Living 2014 – All 50 States
Edited by
Kristin Marino 
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.
Here are all 50 U.S. states as ranked by their working conditions in the 2014 MoneyRates analysis:
| 1. | Washington |
| 2. | Texas |
| 3. | Minnesota |
| 4. | Colorado |
| 5. | Utah |
| 6. | North Dakota |
| 7. | Virginia |
| 8. | Nevada |
| 9. | Oklahoma |
| 10. | Nebraska |
| 11. | Illinois |
| 12. | Delaware |
| 13. | Georgia |
| 14. | Maryland |
| 15. | Iowa |
| 16. | Arizona |
| 17. | Wyoming |
| 18. | Massachusetts |
| 19. | Kansas |
| 20. | Indiana |
| 21. | Ohio |
| 22. | Montana |
| 23. | Tennessee |
| 24. | Wisconsin |
| 25. | North Carolina |
| 26. | South Dakota |
| 27. | Louisiana |
| 28. | Kentucky |
| 29. | California |
| 30. | New Hampshire |
| 31. | Vermont |
| 32. | Michigan |
| 33. | Florida |
| 34. | Idaho |
| 35. | Maine |
| 36. | Pennsylvania |
| 37. | West Virginia |
| 38. | Oregon |
| 39. | New Mexico |
| 40. | Missouri |
| 41. | South Carolina |
| 42. | New Jersey |
| 43. | Arkansas |
| 44. | Alabama |
| 45. | Alaska |
| 46. | Connecticut |
| 47. | Rhode Island |
| 48. | Mississippi |
| 49. | New York |
| 50. | Hawaii |
Our reviews are unbiased and thorough, focusing on consumer needs. For details, see our Editorial Policy & Methodology.
