Most Livable States, 2011

The following table lists the top ten most livable states in the U.S., according to 2011 and 2007 rank. To determine a state's livability rating, each state's rankings in 44 categories were averaged by CQ Press. Some of the positive factors included household income, homeownership, job growth, and educational attainment. The negative factors included crime rate, poverty rate, infant mortality rate, and unemployment rate. The least livable state is Mississippi, a spot it has held on the CQ Press list for nine of the last 10 years.