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When it comes to livability, the Granite State is as
solid as a rock, and that's not just a passing
compliment. For the third year in a row, New
Hampshire was named the nation's "Most Livable
State-2006" by Lawrence, KS
researcher/publisher Morgan Quitno an outfit that
measures livability with 25 negative factors and 19
positive factors.
"New Hampshire enjoys the view from the top and
apparently plans on staying there," said Scott
Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press.
"Citizens of New Hampshire enjoy low
unemployment, low crime rates, high levels of
household income and high levels of education. The
state has a stellar record in many of the categories
we considered for our award," he added. As well
as livability, New Hampshire is known for hosting
the first election primary for each presidential
election, granite laden bedrock (hence the
"Granite State"), limited government,
"leaf peeping" at fall foliage, and it is
home of one of the hottest housing markets in the
nation -- the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH
metropolitan area. Hot on the heels of New Hampshire
were states from a variety of regional locations,
Minnesota, Iowa, Vermont and, despite running jokes
to the contrary, New Jersey, to round out the top
five most livable states in the nation. At the bayou
of the heap, Louisiana came in as the least livable
state, nudging out Mississippi from last year, but
not because of devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina or her siblings. "It should be noted
that the information on which this award is based
preceded the effects of Hurricane Katrina," the
researcher reported. "Our award is unique
because it does not focus on any one category of
data. It takes into account a broad range of
economic, educational, health-oriented, public
safety and environmental statistics. The Most
Livable State Award tells an interesting story about
life and government in the 50 United States."
Among the positive factors considered were household
incomes and earnings, job growth, per capita gross
state product, home ownership rates, population
migration, voting percentages, climate, education
levels, education related expenditures, and others.
Among negative factors considered were crime,
incarceration rates, bankruptcy, pupil-teacher
ratios, unemployment rates, cost-of-living factors,
teenage birth rates, infant mortality rates,
suicide, poverty levels, highway fatalities, and
others. By Morgan Quitno's measures, the Southern
U.S. contains a swath of states where livability
isn't always so easy. After Louisiana, came
Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Carolina.
The bottom 10 least livable states included
Tennessee and West Virginia. Virginia, however, was
the nation's eight most livable state as the Top
Ten, just like the Top 5, represented a variety of
regions in the U.S. and included Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Nebraska and Wyoming.
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