The labor market may have slowed a bit, but there are still far more open jobs nationwide than there are people available to fill them. That means qualified workers are still a valuable commodity.
So companies looking to hire great employees prefer to locate in states that offer a great quality of life. While some states are more than happy to provide this service, these are not the states that offer it. They are the worst states in America to live and work in.
Each year, CNBC’s “America’s Best States for Business” study examines quality of life across 10 competitiveness categories used to rank states. Under this year’s methodology, the quality of life category makes up 13% of a state’s overall score.
We rate each state on multiple factors related to livability, including crime rates, health care, air quality, and child care. We also consider worker protections and legal safeguards against all forms of discrimination. We also look at personal freedoms, including reproductive rights.
In these 10 states, the welcome mat has more than a few holes.
10. Arizona
Members of Arizona for Abortion Access, a voting initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona state constitution, hold a press conference and protest the Arizona House Republicans' condemnation of the 1864 abortion ban during a break from a legislative session in the Arizona House of Representatives on April 17, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
Because everyone has their own opinion about weather, we don’t include it in our quality of life rankings. That means Arizona lands at the bottom without even accounting for extreme heat. We do, however, factor in air quality, and the state’s high temperatures contribute to some of the worst ozone pollution in the country, according to the American Lung Association.
The Grand Canyon State also suffers from growing health care gaps, with fewer than two hospital beds per 1,000 people, according to the American Hospital Association.
In May, Arizona’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, signed a bill repealing a near-total ban on abortion that was passed in 1864, before Arizona became a state. But that leaves the state with only a 15-week ban. A loophole in the state constitution could allow the 1864 ban to go back into effect, if only briefly, this fall.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 119 out of 325 (Highest state score: D-)
Strengths: Crime, Voting Rights, Worker Protections
Weaknesses: Air quality, reproductive rights, health care
9. Kansas
Thomas Barwick | Digital Vision | Getty Images
Good child care is scarce in the Sunflower State, with just 825 licensed child care centers in a state of 2.9 million, according to Child Care Aware of America. Kansas also has some of the most expensive child care in the country. A couple earning the median income can expect to spend about 14 percent of their income on child care.
Oh, and don’t let the prairie landscape fool you: Kansas residents reported more than 11,000 violent crimes in 2022, the most recent number available from the FBI. Crime has recently begun to decline after nearly a decade of increases, but Kansas is still more violent than the nation as a whole.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 113 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strengths: Health care, reproductive rights
Weaknesses: Child care, crime, worker protection
8. Louisiana
Police officers work at the scene of a shooting that occurred during a performance by the band Backus in New Orleans, February 19, 2023.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
Pelican State residents pride themselves on being made of tough stuff. That’s probably a good thing in a state with the fourth-highest violent crime rate in the country, according to FBI statistics, including more than 300 murders in 2022.
According to the United Health Foundation, Louisiana is the least healthy state in America, with the fourth highest rate of premature death. More than 40 percent of Louisiana residents are obese. However, the state is a leader in child care, with more than 1,800 licensed facilities in a state of 4.5 million people, according to the Louisiana Department of Education.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 100 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Child Care
Weaknesses: Crime, Health, Reproductive Rights
7. Missouri
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell listens to a concerned voter after casting his ballot on Nov. 3, 2020 outside the St. Louis County Board of Elections in St. Ann, Missouri.
Michael B. Thomas | Getty Images
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Missouri became one of the last states to cave and allow early and mail-in voting. But it remains one of the most stressful states to vote in, according to elections researcher Michael Beaumant of the Center for U.S. Democracy. Missouri is one of only 10 states that require a qualifying excuse to vote by mail. Missouri also has the sixth-highest crime rate in America, with more than 30,000 reported crimes in 2022.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 98 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Air Quality
Weaknesses: Voting rights, crime, reproductive rights
6. Tennessee
Teachers and organizations from across Tennessee march to Amazon's headquarters in downtown Nashville to protest Governor Bill Lee's school voucher program on March 12, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Seth Herald | Getty Images
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports that violent crime in the Volunteer State is on the decline, including a nearly 9% drop in the murder rate in 2022. But it remains among the most violent states in the country, according to crime statistics from the FBI.
The Human Rights Campaign alleges that Tennessee lawmakers have unleashed a “wave of discriminatory legislation” in 2024, including a law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee in April that bans the state Department of Social Services from seeking to place LGBTQ+ children in supportive homes. Another law paves the way for the state to abolish the independent Human Rights Commission, folding it into the partisan attorney general’s office.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 96 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
Weaknesses: Crime, Inclusiveness, Healthcare
5. Arkansas
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New Mexico is a dangerous state, with the second-highest violent crime rate in the nation after New Mexico. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the state’s public accommodation law has weak anti-discrimination provisions, with no protections against discrimination based on age, veteran status, pregnancy, sexual orientation or marital status. Yet the state is a leader in affordable child care. The average married couple can expect to pay just 9 percent of their income on child care. The state, with a population of about three million, has nearly 1,800 licensed child care facilities.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 93 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Child Care
Weaknesses: Totalitarianism, Crime, Voting Rights
4. Oklahoma
Dr. Franz Third consults a woman seeking an abortion from Oklahoma at his clinic, the Women's Reproductive Clinic, an abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on May 7, 2022. Paul Rathje/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Paul Rathge | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Oklahoma’s abortion ban, which resulted from the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, is among the most restrictive in the country, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It prohibits abortions at any stage of pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or if the procedure is necessary to save the mother’s life. Oklahomans have the third-highest obesity rate in the nation and the third-lowest rate of physical activity. That helps make the Sooner State among the least healthy states in the country.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 85 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Air Quality
Weaknesses: Reproductive rights, health, worker protections, voting rights
3. Alabama
Voters enter a polling place to cast their ballots in the state primary election on March 5, 2024 in Oxford, Alabama. 15 states and 1 U.S. state
Elijah Novella | Getty Images
Alabama is one of only three states that don’t allow early voting, according to the Center for Election Innovation and Research (Mississippi and New Hampshire are the others). And this year, the state passed major new restrictions on absentee voting.
Oxfam America ranked the Yellowhammer State last in wage policies. The state’s $7.25 hourly minimum wage covers less than 20 percent of the cost of living for a family of four. Alabama is one of only five states that does not have a public accommodation law that prohibits discrimination against non-disabled people.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 83 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Child Care
Weaknesses: Voting rights, inclusiveness, worker protections
2. Indiana
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Indiana is the worst state for access to child care, with just 772 licensed facilities in a state of nearly seven million people. The low supply compared to demand makes child care expensive in the Hoosier State. A couple can expect to spend nearly 13 percent of their median income on child care.
Indiana has joined a group of states that have passed laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, including banning gender-affirming care for minors and prohibiting teachers from discussing human sexuality from pre-kindergarten through third grade.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 78 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Power: Crime
Weaknesses: Child care, reproductive rights, inclusiveness, voting rights
1. Texas
Darwin Varela was taken to Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center after suffering from dehydration on July 18, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Yes, we know. People are moving to the Lone Star State in droves. About 220,000 educated workers moved there in 2022 alone, according to the Census Bureau. So how do we rank Texas so low on the quality of life list? The truth is, people move to the state for any number of reasons. And Texas expats face some serious living problems, based on the data.
Consider a basic issue like health care. According to the United Health Foundation, Texas ranks near the bottom in the number of primary care providers per 100,000 people, at 182. According to the Commonwealth Fund, Texas leads the nation—by a wide margin—in the number of people without health insurance, and 19 percent of all people with a good credit score in Texas have medical debt that has gone into collection.
These new residents of Texas also find little legal protection. Texas is another state that has no public accommodation law that prohibits discrimination against non-disabled people; it has passed a series of laws targeting the LGBT community; and its abortion ban is the strictest in the country. Also, if any of these new residents of Texas lose their jobs, the state’s unemployment benefits cover less than 10% of the average cost of living, according to Oxfam America.
Could Texas’s restrictive policies lead to a backlash? There are anecdotal accounts of people leaving the state because of its abortion ban and anti-LGBTQ laws. But for now, statistically, people are continuing to flock to the state with the worst quality of life in America.
2024 Quality of Life Score: 75 out of 325 (Highest state score: F)
Strength: Air Quality
Weaknesses: Reproductive rights, health care, voting rights, inclusiveness, worker protections
Correction: Alabama is one of only three states that do not allow early voting. Delaware recently reinstated early voting. An earlier version of this article misstated this fact.
