Where You Live Matters: Livability Factors to Consider By City & State
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(Image credit: Paul Zansler)
I’ve moved cross-country several times, each time motivated by proximity to loved ones, whim, and/or “I’ve heard good things.” How different would my life be if I made such decisions based on tax structure, marriage laws, and per capita income… do you?
Here are some factors that can dramatically influence quality of life— how much have they affectedFollow Topics for more like this
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your life, and how much weight do you put on these numbers when making decisions?
SALES TAX
- Highest Sales Tax: Birmingham and Montgomery, AL 10%
- Lowest Sales Tax: Honolulu, HI 4.5%
- No Sales Tax: Portland, OR and Anchorage, AK; NH & DE
INCOME TAX
- Highest Income Tax: California 12.3% (or 13.3% if you make more than $1 million/year)
- Lowest Income Tax: Pennsylvania 3.07%
- No Income Tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming
MINIMUM WAGE
- Highest Minimum Wage, district: District of Columbia $9.50/hour
- Highest Minimum Wage, city: San Francisco, $11.05
- Lowest Minimum Wage: Georgia and Wyoming, $5.15/hour
- Lowest Tipped Minimum Wage: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming, $2.13/hour
INCOME
- Highest Per Capita Income, state: Connecticut
- Highest Per Capita Income, city: Dover, MA
- Lowest Per Capita Income, state: Mississippi
- Lowest Per Capita Income, city: Blackwater, AZ
MARRIAGE
- Common Law Marriage: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, Utah
- Community Property States: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin
- Same-Sex Marriage: AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, HI, ID, IA, IL, IN, ME, MD, MA, MN, MT, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV, WI, ,WY, Washington, D.C., plus parts of KS and MO
- States with Explicit Alimony Statutes: Texas, Montana, Kansas, Utah, Kentucky, Maine, Delaware, Mississippi, Tennessee
- New Spouse Pays Child Support to Former Spouse: Illinois
EDUCATION
- Highest Rated Public Schools: Edgemont School District — Edgemont, NY
- Lowest Rated Public Schools: Mississippi
- High Homeschooling Regulation: Philadelphia, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts
- Low to No Homeschooling Regulation: CT, MI, NJ, IA, IL, IN, MO, OK, TX, ID, AK
TRANSPORTATION
- Most Walkable: Washington, DC
- Least Walkable: Jacksonville, FL
- Most Bikeable: New York City, NY
- Least Bikeable: Suffolk County, NY
- Best Public Transportation: New York City, NY or Honolulu, HI
- Worst Public Transportation: Poughkeepsie, NY
- Least Amount of Traffic: Cleveland
- Worst Traffic: Los Angeles