re: Overall State Rankings - LOL

if it wasnt for the overflow of mormons, UTAH would be #1 by everyone.

Environmental Quality as well as Community and Voter Engagement were their criteria for that ranking, so not all that surprising that Mississippi is high on the list. We're not terrible at everything

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Which part of the Oklahoma did you live in? The counties close to the Arkansas border are really bad places to live.

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Lived in Altus. About an hour or so (maybe an hour and a half) west of Lawton.

Drove through Lawton a few times. Looks like a gigantic slum.

Most redeeming quality was "only" being 2 and a half hours from Waco.

Altus ain't bad.

Mississippi: 39.6%

The one stat that rules them all,
and in the darkness, binds them.

Louisiana ranks last every year. Nothing new here bro.

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Cam you were in bum frick no where. I can’t speak to that area I’ve had good experiences in OKC, Tulsa, and the NE OK area in general.

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Yeah, it was dead (dry lake beds, lots of dust, etc), nothing remotely cultural (by contrast, the town I live in now is roughly the same size population wise but has local breweries, a nationally known Shakespearean theater, the best local dining outside of a huge city that I know of, etc).

The place stank of livestock and dead animals. I grew up near farms but I never saw a group care so little about their animals as I did there.

And Granite is filled with creepy sociopaths. No, not just inside the prison.

There sort of lists are almost ALWAYS crap - for several reasons.

First, it is impossible to note the differences WITHIN a state. I'm originally from south Mississippi - but have lived in North Alabama for years. Someone would have to triple my pay in order for me to even remotely consider moving back. But you know... that's no worse than parts of West Tennessee. Or South Alabama. Appalachia. EVERY state has great areas and dumps. North Alabama near the river is an incredibly well kept secret in the nation. It is amazing how many people come here for the defense industry or military, and end up moving away - and then retiring back because they liked it so much. While I am familiar with MY area and like it, the converse is often true. Personally, I hate New Orleans. It's just not a clean town to me, and I am neither a jazz aficionado or foodie. But I know people who are, and they LOVE New Orleans. Fair enough.

Secondly is the weighting of their categories and the effect of personal and regional preferences. Equal emphasis is not rooted in reality. Quality of Life including being able to go to the symphony means little if you can't afford your rent. This can also show up in omissions from the polling - for instance, say college football was included in the Quality of Life category. To ME, that's more important than a good local arts festival. In other categories, I really don't care about some of them with regards to degree, only adequacy. Example - I don't care which states has the BEST roads and bridges, I just want to know that those I drive on in my state are adequate enough.

Thirdly, they did imply that their top two categories of emphasis were health care and education. This always frustrates me about these rankings - Alabama has some tremendous resources for education and health care. But availability and access are far different from willingness and cost. Can Alabama do better? Of course they can - Healthcare - start with tort reform and deregulate to help reduce the cost of insurance and break the monopolistic stranglhold that BS/BS has in healthcare. Education - consolidate some of the 487 junior colleges that we have, re-emphasize vocational and technical skills, and find ways to get parents involved. Alabama doesn't have a FUNDING issue on education. The AEA has just run it into the ground over the last few decades.

US News probably thinks it has done an exhaustive, accurate, and correct job of ranking our states in these areas. The fact is, there is simply too much variability. It would take enormous resources and time to answer this question with deeper meaning. They are not even close. JMHO.

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Arkansas was 7th. it has to have rated our weather and outdoor activities highly.

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The quality of life one seems like it would encompass some of the rest of them- just going by the phrase itself that is.