State rankings are obviously biased toward left-wing talking points.
CNBC just published a ranking of all 50 states in the Union, and was rightfully ridiculed online. As it turns out, their criteria for the “best states to live in” were just . . . left-wing talking points?
Chief among their concerns are the “inclusiveness” of state laws, prominence of local unions, and “reproductive rights.” There is little attempt to disguise their political bias.
The worst states are all red states, per CNBC, which should set off alarm flags. It should be difficult to construct rankings such that blue states are overwhelmingly highly ranked, and red states are clustered at the bottom. Texas and Indiana are ranked second and third worst, while my home state of Tennessee comes in at No. 1 for the worst state to live in:
Tennessee Republicans, led by Gov. Bill Lee, make no apologies for a rash of state laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, including a so-called “bathroom law” requiring transgender people to use the facilities designated for their sex at birth. The state also explicitly bars localities from adopting their own antidiscrimination ordinances. To underscore the point, Lee signed a resolution earlier this year designating June “Nuclear Family Month.”
This is bogus. “Inclusiveness” in the progressive sense should not be a major metric for quality of life. There is little correlation between the degree to which a state caters to LGBT individuals and the quality of their residents’ economic opportunity, social cohesion, and overall life satisfaction.
I wonder if anybody at CNBC has ever stopped to consider why there are so many people moving to Tennessee nowadays, because the blue state refugees don’t seem to share the same concerns that CNBC has. About 42,000 domestic migrants flocked to Tennessee between 2024 and 2025, making it among the nation’s fastest growing states.
Why? We have no state income tax, lots of land, and Southern hospitality. Surprisingly, this combination of factors makes great communities. I know several Californians who have moved to the Nashville area and converted to gun-toting, card-carrying conservatives.
Yes, crime is an issue in Tennessee. But this is jacked up by crime rates in blue cities. Most counties in Tennessee are lovely, and one would never know that there are high crime rates in specific areas. Congress produced a report in 2022 documenting the “blue city murder problem,” which repudiates the notion that red states are more dangerous in general.
CNBC’s highest ranked states are Vermont and Maine. Another thing these states are best at? Being old. The median age of Vermont is 43.1, and Maine is the oldest at 44.8, making them downright geriatric.
If anything, the rankings show that progressives will increasingly conflate liberal talking points with actual quality of life. Let Americans fix their own rankings with their feet and with their tax dollars. The future is not looking great for Democrats who want to win elections, anyways.