ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Florida landed in the top 10 of WalletHub\u2019s new list of the best states to live in, ranking No. 10 overall in the latest analysis that compared all 50 states across several metrics tied to livability.<\/p>\n
WalletHub\u2019s rankings weigh five broad categories \u2014 Affordability, Economy, Education & Health, Quality of Life and Safety \u2014 using indicators such as housing affordability, income growth, educational attainment and hospital quality.<\/p>\n
How Florida performed<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s overall showing was driven primarily by a strong quality-of-life score.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s category ranks (WalletHub):<\/p>\n
Overall:\u00a0No. 10\u00a0(Total score:\u00a057.48)<\/p>\n
Affordability:\u00a0No. 32<\/p>\n
Economy:\u00a0No. 17<\/p>\n
Education & Health:\u00a0No. 24<\/p>\n
Quality of Life:\u00a0No. 3<\/p>\n
Safety:\u00a0No. 11<\/p>\n
The results suggest Florida\u2019s lifestyle advantages \u2014 including factors captured in WalletHub\u2019s quality-of-life measures \u2014 helped offset weaker rankings in affordability and education\/health.<\/p>\n
What topped the list<\/p>\n
The highest-ranked states overall were:<\/p>\n
Idaho<\/p>\n
New Jersey<\/p>\n
Wisconsin<\/p>\n
Massachusetts<\/p>\n
New Hampshire<\/p>\n
\u201cIdaho is the best state to live in, boasting one of the lowest median real estate tax rates in the country, at just 0.5%, along with the eighth-highest homeownership rate. It also has the fourth-lowest tax rates overall and the highest median household income growth, making it a great place to build and grow wealth.<\/p>\n
In addition, the Gem State has the seventh-lowest share of urban interstates experiencing congestion during peak hours. This naturally leads to some of the lowest average commute times in the country.<\/p>\n
To top things off, Idaho is a pretty safe state. It has the 14th-lowest violent crime rate and the lowest property crime rate in the country.”<\/p>\n
WalletHub, “Best States to Live In”<\/p>\n
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said people considering a move should weigh both money and day-to-day living conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen deciding on a place to move, you should first consider financial factors like the cost of living, housing prices and job availability,\u201d Lupo said. \u201cMany states have strong economies, though, so you should also consider\u2026 how where you live will impact your health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
WalletHub\u2019s data was compiled from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, FBI, CDC and other federal and research organizations.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the full list is as follows:<\/p>\n
Overall RankStateScoreBest Category1Idaho60.15Safety2New Jersey59.41Safety3Wisconsin59.32Safety4Massachusetts59.28Education & Health5New Hampshire58.89Economy6Wyoming58.71Safety7Utah58.63Education & Health8Minnesota57.94Education & Health9Pennsylvania57.71Quality of Life10Florida57.48Quality of Life11Iowa57.41Safety12New York57.12Quality of Life13Virginia55.98Education & Health14Montana55.64Montana15Maine54.78Education & Health16North Dakota54.74Economy17South Dakota54.20Economy18Illinois54.08Quality of Life19Vermont53.77Economy20Nebraska53.49Economy21Colorado53.45Education & Health22Connecticut53.27Education & Health23Rhode Island53.15Safety24Kansas52.82Quality of Life25Indiana52.57Affordability26North Carolina51.84Affordability27Georgia51.81Affordability\/Safety28Ohio51.60Quality of Life29Michigan51.56Affordability30Missouri51.50Affordability31California51.44Quality of Life32Delaware49.76Affordability33Washington49.70Economy34Arizona48.41Quality of Life35Maryland48.38Education & Health36Texas48.35Quality of Life37Hawaii48.34Economy38South Carolina48.08Affordability39Alabama47.84Affordability40Tennessee47.62Affordability41Kentucky47.59Affordability42Oregon46.49Quality of Life43West Virginia45.98Affordability44Oklahoma45.47Affordability45Nevada44.54Quality of Life46Arkansas43.29Affordability47Alaska42.92Economy48Mississippi42.77Affordability49Louisiana42.27Affordability50New Mexico41.42Affordability<\/p>\n
The methodology used for each factor is as follows:<\/p>\n
Affordability<\/p>\n
Economy<\/p>\n
Unemployment rate<\/p>\n
Underemployment rate<\/p>\n
Sharecare Well-Being \u201cEconomic Security\u201d<\/p>\n
Share of population living in poverty<\/p>\n
Media debt per median earnings<\/p>\n
Population growth<\/p>\n
Income growth<\/p>\n
Building-permit growth<\/p>\n
Wealth gap<\/p>\n
General tax-friendliness<\/p>\n
Entrepreneurial activity<\/p>\n
Job opportunities<\/p>\n
Foreclosure rate<\/p>\n
Bankruptcy rate<\/p>\n
Food insecurity<\/p>\n
Education & Health<\/p>\n
Quality of public school system<\/p>\n
High school graduation rate<\/p>\n
Share of population aged 25 and older with a high school diploma or higher<\/p>\n
Share of insured population<\/p>\n
Quality of public hospital system<\/p>\n
Premature-death rate<\/p>\n
Poor or fair health<\/p>\n
Life expectancy<\/p>\n
Share of live births with low birthweight<\/p>\n
Share of obese adults<\/p>\n
Share of physically inactive adults<\/p>\n
Quality of Life<\/p>\n
Average hours worked per week<\/p>\n
Average commute time (minutes)<\/p>\n
Miles of trails for bicycling and walking per total state land area<\/p>\n
\u201cBicycle Friendly State\u201d ranking<\/p>\n
Access to public transportation<\/p>\n
Quality of roads<\/p>\n
Traffic congestion<\/p>\n
Restaurants per capita<\/p>\n
Bars per capita<\/p>\n
Museums per capita<\/p>\n
Performing arts center per capita<\/p>\n
Movie theaters per capita<\/p>\n
Fitness centers per capita<\/p>\n
Accessibility of beaches<\/p>\n
Weather<\/p>\n
Air Quality<\/p>\n
Safety<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Florida landed in the top 10 of WalletHub\u2019s new list of the best states to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,28,30,29,785,571,2159],"class_list":["post-367356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-ranked","tag-health","tag-money"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}