Is Arizona One Of The Worst States To Live In?

Is Arizona one of the worst states to live in the United States? From an Arizona resident, no.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the country sees the Grand Canyon state like I do, least of all US News and World Report. Their annual ranking of the best states to live in came out recently, and it's not very nice to us here in the Southwest.

Where Does Arizona Rank in the U.S.?

According to the 2024 report, Arizona places not in the top ten, not even the top half, but all the way at number 32. This comes for a multitude of reasons, but it likely has to do with two factors: housing and education.

Housing has been getting harder and harder to find across the state, and funding for Arizona schools is nearing an all time low. While other factors affected this score, these are the largest issues that need to be tackled.

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What Does Arizona Excel At Nationally?

While Arizona does fall to the bottom of the list, we do fare better than most other states at certain points. While Crime, Education, Fiscal Stability, Job Opportunity, and natural Environment rank in the bottom half of the states (Natural Environment? Really???), Arizona excels at Healthcare, Economy and Infrastructure.

Even with these wins, those rankings only get as high as 10th in the nation for the state economy, while Infrastructure ranks at number 18 and Healthcare comes in at number 20.

While there are certain metrics that are objectively correct, moving to Arizona from #9 Florida was one of the best choices I ever made.

But hey, at least we're ranked higher than California. ;)

[US News and World Report]