There are nearly as many reasons for living somewhere as there are people who live there. Maybe your family is there. Maybe you had to move there for a job. Maybe you followed a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe you just needed a change from the last place you lived. Or if your work or career is fairly flexible and you’re in good shape monetarily, maybe you weighed the pros, cons and various statistics of many states, cities or regions before deciding upon a place to settle permanently. There are dozens of organizations online who help those decisions by ranking states and cities. Some of the newest rankers include Bankrate, a website designed primarily to rank banks, which recently published a list of the best states for retirees. They used five categories: affordability, overall well-being, the cost and quality of healthcare, the weather and crime. Their finding? The best states to move to if you’re retiring are Iowa, Delaware, West Virginia, Missouri and Mississippi. The worst are Alaska, New York, California, Washington and Massachusetts. Idaho is the 33rd best state for retirees, meaning it’s also 18th worst. What if you’re not retiring? The website The Hill recently ranked states based upon the possibility that your salary in a career position will continue to rise. Idaho and the rest of the west did very well. Number one is Wyoming, followed by Idaho, Montana, Oregon and New Mexico. At the bottom of the list are Delaware, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa and New Jersey. Notice that Delaware and Iowa are two of the five best places to retire, but two of the five worst places to keep working. It sort of makes sense. Where should you live if you want to maintain good mental health while expecting a baby? According to the latest findings of the website 2020mom.org, which gave out letter grades rather than rank the states one through fifty, your best bets are California, which scored best with only a B-, then Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which all got C’s. They recommend you not go through a pregnancy in Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Connecticut or New Hampshire, all of which received a grade of F. Finally, if your criteria for relocation is based upon the intelligence of your prospective neighbors, the website Wise Voter advises that you move to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont or Minnesota, and avoid Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Hawaii and New Mexico. Idaho is number 22. Looking at the list as a whole, the smartest states are some of the coldest, and the least intelligent are mostly warm, possibly because when it’s cold, you’re more likely to stay inside and read.
