Overview
- CNBC published a companion ranking that put Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee at the bottom based on a refreshed methodology that raises the weight of a 'Life, Health and Inclusion' category.
- The quality-of-life category now accounts for 11.6% of a state’s overall score and combines hard data on crime, air quality, health care, childcare, and worker protections with policy measures that penalize states for restrictive abortion laws and weak anti-discrimination protections.
- Conservative media figures and Republican governors immediately disputed the list’s validity, citing CEO polls, U-Haul and Census migration data, and corporate relocation trends to argue people and businesses continue moving to the low-ranked states.
- CNBC singled out Tennessee and Texas with low quality-of-life totals—Tennessee scored about 64 of 290 citing violent crime, drug deaths, and anti-LGBTQ laws, and Texas scored about 78 of 290 citing high uninsured rates and weaknesses on worker protections and reproductive inclusiveness.
- No major change or retraction from CNBC has been reported and coverage has split along partisan lines with critics calling the ranking ideologically driven and defenders pointing to the specific data and policy choices that produced the low scores.