All US states ranked from best to worst, according to Americans

There are endless rankings of the US states: whether they are the best places to live, the best places to do business, how much fun they are. Such judgements are made by economists, companies, and journalists – but what do Americans themselves think?

We asked people to choose the better of two states in a series of head-to-head matchups. States are rated based on their “win percentage”, that is: how often that state won the head-to-head matchup when it was one of the two states shown.

All 50 states were shown, in addition to Washington, D.C., but territories were not included.

Hawaii, which is well-known for its beautiful beaches and warm weather, took the top spot by winning 69% of its matchups. With its scenic mountains, hiking paths, and recreational marijuana industry, Colorado took second place with 65% of matches won.

1 Hawaii 69
2 Colorado 65.4
3 Virginia 64.1
4 Nevada 61.4
5 North Carolina 61.3
6 Florida 60.7
7 Arizona 60
8 New York 58.9
9 Georgia 57.9
10 Texas 57.7

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