New Jersey is the top state to live in according to a report issued this week by Wallet Hub. If you just lived in New Jersey through the COVID-19 pandemic and the excessive year-long lockdown put in place by Governor Phil Murphy you might be scratching your head right about now.
But, according to several automated factors, New Jersey was in fact, selected as the best place to live in despite it also being the state that leads the nationwide blue exodus, the fleeing of residents from restrictive and expensive blue states to places such as Texas, Florida and the Carolinas.
According to the report, New Jersey is 49th in affordability. Tell us something we don’t know. New Jersey is a tough place to get a break in and start a family and housing prices, property taxes, and the cost of living is through the roof. It has the 32nd best economy according to the report, so what qualifies it as being the best?
New Jersey has a lot of good, despite the harsh conditions we’re forced to live in after decades of political corruption and mismanagement. New Jersey has the 5th best education system in America, 7th best quality of life index and the one draw our tiny state has always had is that it has a little bit of everything.
New Jerseyans are in driving distance to two major cities, New York and Philadelphia, the mountains, the beaches and anything you want in most parts of the state are only a few minutes away. New Jersey is definitely the most convenient state.
One thing New Jerseyans might not realize and here at Shore News Network, we fully realize is that New Jersey is the safest state in America. Yes, that is true and the report is 100% accurate.
In order to determine the best and worst states to live in, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five key dimensions: 1) Affordability, 2) Economy, 3) Education & Health, 4) Quality of Life, and 5) Safety.
“We evaluated those dimensions using 52 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable living conditions. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across states,” Wallet Hub said.
Living Conditions in New Jersey (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
- 7th – % of Population in Poverty
- 24th – % of Insured Population
- 18th – % of Adults in Fair or Poor Health
- 18th – Avg. Weekly Work Hours
- 7th – Restaurants per Capita
- 30th – WalletHub “States that are Recovering the Quickest from COVID-19” Rank