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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.
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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:

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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.