Here’s How Colorado Ranks Among Best Places To Live

ACROSS COLORADO - The Mile High State has been ranked the fourth-best place to live in the country, according to a new report that looked at three socioeconomic factors. The financial news and opinion site 24/7 Wall St. ranked every state and published the results last week. The rankings were based on an index that measured poverty rate, life expectancy at birth and the percentage of adults who have at least a bachelor’s degree.

These metrics, the authors said, effectively sum up quality of life when it comes to health and prosperity. Colorado ranked fourth, falling between Connecticut and Minnesota in the rankings. Here’s what the authors found for our state:

• 10-yr. population change: +15.3% (5th largest increase)
• Annual unemployment: 2.8% (4th lowest)
• Poverty rate: 10.3% (9th lowest)
• Life expectancy at birth: 80.2 years (8th longest)

Here’s what the authors wrote:

Colorado is the fourth best state to live in for a number of reasons. Only 2.8% of the state’s labor force is out of work, the fourth lowest unemployment rate of any state and less than the nationwide jobless rate of 4.4%. In Colorado, 41.2% of adults have at least a bachelor’s degree, the second largest share of any state.

Educated individuals tend to lead healthier and longer lives. Only about one in five Colorado adults are obese, the smallest share of any other state and well below the national obesity rate of 28.0%. State adults also exercise more than adults in any other state. Also, the premature death rate in the state of 281 deaths before age 75 per 100,000 people is well below the national rate of 336 premature deaths per 100,000 people. This likely contributes to Colorado’s high life expectancy of 80.2 years, the eighth longest of all states.

Massachusetts was ranked the No. 1 place to live in America. While there are many reasons the Bay State topped the list, the authors highlighted its status as the most educated state in the country, with more than 43 percent of adults holding at least a bachelor’s degree.

“This high level of educational attainment sets these residents up for higher paying positions in their career,” the report said.

Massachusetts also had the fourth highest median household income at $77,385 a year and boasts a poverty rate of 10.5 percent, well below the national rate of 13.4 percent.

New England performed particularly well in the rankings, with New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont all cracking the top 10.

Here are the top 10 states to live in, according to 24/7 Wall St.

1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Connecticut
4. Colorado
5. Minnesota
6. New Jersey
7. Hawaii
8. Maryland
9. Vermont
10. Utah

On the flip side, several states in the South ranked as the worst places to live. Mississippi was ranked dead last with slow population growth and high unemployment, as well as the highest poverty rate and shortest life expectancy in the country.

“Mississippi is the worst state to live in because it ranks last in a number of important measures that determine overall quality of life in a state,” the authors wrote.

The state’s life expectancy — 74.9 years — was more than four years below the national life expectancy, the authors noted. This is likely due in large part to "suboptimal access to and quality of health care," they said.

Mississippi also had the fewest primary care physicians per capita and the third highest rate of preventable hospitalizations.

West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama and Kentucky rounded out the bottom five states, followed by Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Tennessee and South Carolina.

24/7 Wall St. said rates for poverty and bachelor degree attainment came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey. Life expectancy figures came from The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and were from 2014, the latest year data was available. Unemployment rates came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and were yearly for 2017.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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