A new analysis finds states on opposite coasts most attractive for employment, while states in the South lag.
The 2022 ranking of the 50 states comes from Wallethub, which looked at two key dimensions: job market (60 points) and economic environment (40 points). The dimensions were evaluated using 35 metrics, including employment growth, worker protection scores, share of workers living in poverty, average length of work week in hours, average commute time and median annual income.
Below are the top 15 states and bottom 15 states. The complete ranking and scoring can be found here.
The best
1. Washington: 69.65
2. Vermont: 69.46
3. New Hampshire: 66.27
4. Colorado: 65.38
5. Minnesota: 64.78
6. Rhode Island: 64.52
7. Massachusetts: 63.75
8. Virginia: 62.84
9. Connecticut: 62
10. New Jersey: 61.56
11. California: 60.90
12. South Dakota: 59.83
13. Utah: 59.71
14. Florida: 59.35
15. Illinois: 57.91
The worst
36. New Mexico: 49.56
37. Indiana: 49.49
38. Wyoming: 49.36
39. Montana: 49.29
40. Georgia: 47.97
41. Ohio: 47.77
42. Alabama: 46.05
43. South Carolina: 46
44. Pennsylvania: 45.45
45. Oklahoma: 44.96
46. Arkansas: 42.99
47. Louisiana: 42.59
48. Mississippi: 39.64
49. Kentucky: 37.79
50. West Virginia: 35.45