The best states to live in for 2026: No. 1 has a six-year winning streak

Read more at CNBC. *Editors note– only some of these states are ranked as LGBTQ friendly, so please keep that in mind.

One of the many signs that the Covid pandemic is slipping further into the past is that companies are paying closer attention to the quality of life in locations where they are considering setting up shop.

“Where are people moving? Where have they gone post-Covid?” said veteran site selection consultant Tom Stringer of Stringer Site Selection in New York. “It’s largely going to be an attractive place to live. You’re seeing corporate industry chasing people now rather than people chasing jobs.”

So, it stands to reason that in their campaigns to lure business, states are increasingly touting their quality of life. As a result, CNBC is giving more weight to the Quality of Life category in this year’s America’s Top States for Business study. It is our annual ranking of every state’s business climate, now in its 20th year. Under this year’s methodology, the category makes up 11.6% of a state’s overall score, up from about ten percent last year.

To score the states for quality of life, we use hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare. We also consider the cost and availability of childcare, inclusiveness of state laws, and reproductive rights. Some states do not make the grade when it comes to providing a great place for residents to live and work. The following states are America’s best places to live this year.

Nebraska

A rider competes in the saddle bronc event during the town’s annual Independence Day holiday rodeo on July 03, 2026 in Sutherland, Nebraska.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

Nebraska’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, in place since 2017 to combat the opioid epidemic, is one of the most extensive in the nation. It requires the reporting of every prescription in the state — not just controlled substances. Then-State Senator Sara Howard, who introduced the legislation, said at the time, “My goal is to make Nebraska one of the leading states in the nation in the fight against opioid addiction and abuse.” She succeeded. No state had fewer drug deaths per capita in 2023, according to the United Health Foundation, just 8.7 deaths per 100,000 people. It is one reason that the Cornhusker State is among America’s healthiest. It also helps that Nebraska has exceptionally clean air, according to data from the American Lung Association and First Street Foundation.

2026 Quality of Life score: 184 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B)

Strengths: Health, Air Quality

Weaknesses: Reproductive Rights, Inclusiveness

Massachusetts

Hilltop view in the Berkshires, New England in Fall.

Suefeldberg | Istock | Getty Images

Massachusetts is America’s healthiest state, in part because it has more primary care physicians per capita than any other state, according to the United Health Foundation. That may have something to do with the fact that no state has a smaller percentage of people without health insurance, which experts contend has everything to do with the historic healthcare reform championed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney 20 years ago. “Romneycare,” passed in 2006, mandated that every resident must have health insurance or pay a tax penalty, established a marketplace where they could buy insurance, and created subsidies to make it affordable. The United Health Foundation notes that as of last year, 53.4% of Bay State residents surveyed said their health was good or excellent — second only to Vermont. Massachusetts is also a leader in worker protections, mandating paid sick leave and protecting the right to organize.

2026 Quality of Life score: 184 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B)

Strengths: Health, Worker Protections, Inclusiveness, Reproductive Rights

Weaknesses: Air Quality, Childcare

North Dakota

Fargo, North Dakota.

Tiago_fernandez | Istock Editorial | Getty Images

No state does better than North Dakota when it comes to the availability of childcare at a reasonable price. The Peace Garden State has 478 licensed childcare centers in a state of fewer than 800,000 people, according to Child Care Aware of America. The average cost is just 9% of the median income for a family with two working parents, or half the cost in Hawaii. Whether the state can continue that record is an open question, however. State childcare assistance has in some ways been a victim of its own success. Late last year, facing budget pressures due in part to high enrollment, the state reduced some of its subsidies. It also eliminated its Working Parents Child Care Relief program, which offered matching payments for employer-led childcare. The final matching payments will go out in August.

2026 Quality of Life score: 186 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B+)

Strengths: Childcare, Health, Air Quality, Crime

Weaknesses: Worker Protections, Reproductive Rights

Virginia

The Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Denistangneyjr | E+ | Getty Images

With just 218 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2024, Virginia had one of the lowest violent crime rates in the nation, according to FBI statistics. Ceasefire Virginia, launched in 2022 under Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares, both Republicans — and continuing under their Democratic successors, Abigail Spanberger and Jay Jones — targets gun violence in 13 municipalities in the Commonwealth with increased penalties for possession and use of firearms by convicted felons. An analysis of the program last year by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Public Policy credited it with a 10% decrease in homicides statewide through 2024, including a 24% reduction in homicides in Ceasefire localities.

2026 Quality of Life score: 189 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B+)

Strengths: Crime, Air Quality, Health

Weakness: Childcare

New Hampshire

Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.

Denistangneyjr | E+ | Getty Images

“Live Free or Die” is New Hampshire’s famous motto. And in the Granite State, the first part of that motto almost always wins. A broad range of residents live free from discrimination under the state’s very inclusive statutes. (One exception, however, is its election laws. New Hampshire is one of only three states— the others are Mississippi and Alabama — that do not offer in-person early voting.) Violent crime is practically non-existent, with just 110 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024. Perhaps even more impressive, the violent crime rate is down 44% since 2014.

2026 Quality of Life score: 189 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B+)

Strengths: Crime, Childcare, Inclusiveness

Weaknesses: Health, Worker Protections

Hawaii

Hawaii surfers on waikiki beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Maridav | Istock | Getty Images

Hawaii spent many years at or near the top of this list, with low crime, a pristine environment, and welcoming state laws. Then, in 2022, we began factoring in the cost and availability of childcare. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation calls it “more than a family issue — it’s an economic imperative.” The state has been trying since 2023 to address the need with its “Ready Keiki” program (Keiki means child in Hawaiian). In October, the state celebrated the opening of the 100th pre-school classroom under the program, in Kailua. But the need is still enormous — and so is the cost, the highest in the nation at 18% of median income, according to Child Care Aware.

2026 Quality of Life score: 191 out of 290 points (Top States grade: B+)

Strengths: Crime, Air Quality, Inclusiveness

Weaknesses: Childcare, Health

Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut.

Sean Pavone | Istock | Getty Images

Like most of its New England neighbors, Connecticut is remarkably healthy, and its residents practice healthy habits. Illicit opioid use is the lowest of any state. The Nutmeg State even leads the nation in the percentage of adults who reported visiting a dentist in the past year, according to the United Health Foundation. The state has the nation’s third-lowest violent crime rate. Air quality is poor, however, with high levels of ozone, according to the American Lung Association, and high levels of particulate matter, according to the nonprofit First Street Foundation.

2026 Quality of Life score: 205 out of 290 points (Top States grade: A–)

Strengths: Crime, Health, Worker Protections

Weakness: Air Quality

Minnesota

Canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Canoeing in the Boundary Waters Area Wilderness in Minnesota.

Georgepeters | Istock | Getty Images

Minnesota offers among the nation’s strongest guarantees of reproductive rights, according to analysis by the Guttmacher Institute. While there are few issues more divisive than abortion, the economics of it are becoming increasingly clear-cut since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision returned the jurisdiction to the states in 2022. A 2025 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found abortion bans “increase net migration outflows” and that ”(t)he effects are more prominent for single-person households than family households, which may reflect larger effects on younger adults.”

The North Star State also offers strong protections against discrimination, and it earns a near-perfect score from Oxfam America for its worker protections such as the right of workers to organize. And the home of the Mayo Clinic is appropriately among America’s healthiest states.

2026 Quality of Life score: 210 out of 290 points (Top States grade: A)

Strengths: Reproductive Rights, Inclusiveness, Health

Weakness: Childcare

New Jersey

Manasquan is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Denistangneyjr | Istock | Getty Images

Yes, New Jersey. If the Garden State is not the first place that comes to mind when you think about great quality of life, you are not looking closely enough, according to the data. According to the United Health Foundation, New Jersey has the second-lowest rate of premature deaths after Massachusetts, helping to make New Jersey one of America’s healthiest states. It ranks third nationally for healthy lives, according to the Commonwealth Fund’s 2025 Scorecard on State Health System Performance. But like so much else in New Jersey, the state’s health system has serious affordability issues. First-term Gov. Mikie Sherrill has proposed fining employers that do not provide health insurance for their employees, and she is seeking reform in the State Health Benefits Program, which she says has been “pushed to the brink” of insolvency.

2026 Quality of Life score: 223 out of 290 points (Top States grade: A+)

Strengths: Health, Reproductive Rights, Worker Protections, Crime

Weakness: Air Quality

Maine

The Portland Head Lighthouse in Maine at sunrise.

Sara_winter | Istock | Getty Images

Maine has America’s lowest violent crime rate, with just 100 incidents per 100,000 people in 2024. After a horrific mass shooting spree in 2023 in Lewiston that left 18 people dead, Maine legislators passed a series of reforms that earned the state “most improved” honors in 2024 from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The Pine Tree State’s laws offer a wide range of protections against discrimination. But the state has some challenges when it comes to health. Maine ranks No. 42 for drug deaths and No. 35 for frequent mental distress, according to the United Health Foundation.

2026 Quality of Life score: 232 out of 290 points (Top States grade: A+)

Strengths: Crime, Inclusiveness, Air Quality

Weakness: Health

America’s Best Place to Live in 2026: Vermont

Montpelier, Vermont.

Sean Pavone Photo | Getty Images

People are feeling good in Vermont. Fifty-four percent of Vermonters surveyed by the United Health Foundation in 2024 reported that they were in good or excellent health — more than in any other state. Crime is low, and, as is common throughout the region, the Green Mountain State fiercely protects its residents’ rights. But one area where the state falls badly short is homelessness. Vermont ranks No. 47 for homelessness, according to the United Health Foundation. By the state’s most recent count, more than 3,000 people were unhoused as of January 2025, in a state with just 644,000 people. So, in a rare moment of agreement, Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill passed by the Democratic-led legislature to overhaul the state’s system to manage the situation. The bill sets aside some $83 million to establish a range of shelter options, with less emphasis on unused hotel rooms. The new law aims to make sure that in America’s top state for quality of life, more people have a place to live.

2026 Quality of Life score: 233 out of 290 points (Top States grade: A+)

Strengths: Reproductive Rights, Health, Crime, Inclusiveness, Air Quality

Weakness: Childcare

September 6, 2026 0

Why LGBTQ Americans Are Moving to Portugal & Europe | Josh in Lisbon Update

Thinking about moving to Portugal or Europe from the United States? For LGBTQ+ Americans concerned about civil rights, politics, healthcare, safety, and their long-term future in the U.S., Portugal has become one of the destinations getting serious attention.

In this episode of the Flee Your Red States Podcast, Bob McCranie and Leslie welcome back Josh in Lisbon, an American who has now lived in Portugal for three years, for an update on what relocating to Portugal actually looks like in 2026.

Josh says something important has changed. Many of the Americans contacting him aren’t simply looking for an overseas adventure anymore. They’re considering leaving the United States because they’re afraid of what may happen next.

We talk about the realities behind that decision: Portugal’s growing international community, LGBTQ+ life in Europe, immigration and residency changes, learning Portuguese, integrating into a different culture, healthcare, employment, bureaucracy, and the financial realities of building a life outside the United States.

Josh also explains some of the differences between buying real estate in Portugal and the United States and what Americans should understand before assuming that purchasing a home overseas works the same way it does back home.

The conversation goes beyond Portugal.

With the 2026 U.S. midterm elections approaching, we discuss what the results could mean for LGBTQ+ migration. Will a political shift convince people to stay? Could further restrictions accelerate the number of Americans considering Europe? And for people who have already decided that their long-term future may be elsewhere, does the election even change the decision?

We also discuss one of the most overlooked parts of international relocation: moving somewhere is very different from becoming part of somewhere.

Language matters. Culture matters. Employment matters. Healthcare matters. And the experience of visiting Portugal is very different from actually building a life there.

Josh shares what he has learned after three years in Lisbon—and what he wishes more Americans understood before packing their bags.

Topics include: moving to Portugal from the USA, LGBTQ+ migration to Europe, living in Lisbon, Portugal immigration and residency, Portuguese citizenship, LGBTQ+ rights and safety, healthcare in Europe, working in Portugal, cultural integration, buying property in Portugal, the 2026 midterm elections, and why Americans are considering leaving the United States.

For information about relocating to Portugal or Portuguese real estate, visit Josh in Lisbon and find Josh on social media at @joshinlisbon.

The Flee Your Red States Podcast explores relocation options for LGBTQ+ people and others concerned about whether their civil rights will continue to be protected where they live. Our goal isn’t to tell people that they should leave. It’s to help people understand what their options are if they decide they need them.

September 6, 2026 0

Leaving Texas isn’t so simple for LGBTQ residents

Trans man flees US after unending discrimination & violence: “I have to get out or I’m going to die”

Why leaving red states isn’t so simple for LGBTQ Americans

The red state, blue state divide is real. But it’s driven by more than just politics

*Read more at NPR. Flee Red States is featured in this article.

Three years ago, Jessa Davis had an epiphany: After she came out as a trans woman, remaining in deep-red Texas felt untenable. So, she sold her house in Odessa and moved to the liberal bastion of Seattle, Wash.

Davis describes herself as a trans refugee. Back in Texas, she says, lived in a “pretty hostile and frankly dangerous” place. “I had a lot of close calls, a lot of threats.”

Davis volunteered with organizations advocating for trans and queer rights in Odessa and remembers thinking, “I’ve got one life and I don’t want to spend the next 20 years of [it] fighting a battle that I’m not sure we’re going to win in a place like Texas.”

Her fight for LGBTQ rights continues, but it feels more manageable in a city she views as welcoming and supportive. After arriving, Davis quickly became active in local issues and now serves as co-chair on a commission advising the city on LGBTQ issues. She and other commissioners have urged Seattle to declare a state of emergency to provide more resources for the growing number of people relocating there to escape anti-LGBTQ laws and hostile social climates elsewhere in the country.

Davis’ case reflects what sociologists call “ideological sorting” — the tendency to choose communities aligned with one’s political and cultural values. Popularized in the 2008 book The Big Sort, it sets out to explain the widening divide between red and blue America.

In a country that’s growing ever-more polarized, the shifting demographics cut in both directions — and it is happening across the country. In one study from 2022, researchers concluded that “at no point since the Civil War have partisans been as clustered within individual states as today.”

Research in recent years, however, suggests that the story is more complex and nuanced — and that simply seeking out like-minded neighbors is more often than not just one factor among several driving the shift.

From blue state to red

As Davis and others arrive in Seattle seeking refuge from hostile laws and rhetoric, some of Seattle’s longtime residents, like Kirby Wilbur, have moved out, fleeing to conservative enclaves.

Wilbur also describes himself as a “refugee.” He relates an experience that is a virtual mirror image of Davis’. In Seattle, the local conservative talk show host — who also briefly served as Washington state Republican chair — felt like a stranger in a strange land.

As he neared retirement, he and his wife Trina began thinking about an escape plan. A friend told them about McKinney, Texas, a conservative Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. Wilbur had never heard of McKinney, but decided to have a look.

“There were like 3,000 square foot homes with a pool for $300,000,” he says.

In Texas, Wilbur met with Paul Chabot in 2020, who runs a specialty realty service, Conservative Move. Started in 2017, the company has helped thousands of people relocate from blue states to red states, Chabot says.

But the Wilburs still weren’t ready. Then came the 2020 George Floyd protests in Seattle. Kirby Wilbur says after the mobs, looting and vandalism, he and Trina had their own epiphany. “We looked at each other and said, ‘No, we can’t live this way. This is it.'”

Chabot, a retired U.S. Navy commander, says Wilbur — who has since become a part-time realtor with Conservative Move — is like most of his clients, who “feel like they can’t talk politics with people on their street.”

Conservative Move assists a lot of families with children who say they want a better quality of life for their kids — things like lower crime, stronger schools and lower taxes, according to Chabot. They also want to be somewhere they don’t feel judged for their political beliefs, he says.

“It’s not like people are leaving just because they hate Democrats. They don’t like Democrat policies, but they really feel like they’re alone, alienated, ostracized,” he says.

Chabot’s counterpart on the left is Bob McCranie. In 2020, McCranie started a web page called Flee Texas. “Very quickly… it got overwhelmed by people from all sorts of other places saying, ‘Oh my gosh, talk to me,'” he says.

As a result, he broadened the reach a few years later, launching Flee Red States. Since then, he says he has 40 closings related to the project and more than 875 people on a mailing list. He says he’s even helped people move out of the country.

McCranie says for some of his clients, the stakes are much higher than simply whether they can have a political conversation over the back fence. “People are moving because they don’t feel safe in their own state, in their own country,” he says.

For instance, some conservative groups are trying to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling that established same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. McCranie says some of his clients are wondering, “Where would we be safe as a couple and as a family?”

U.S. Census Bureau data for 2024 indicates that almost exactly as many people moved from Texas to Washington as went the other direction. However, a nationwide Stateline analysis paints a more one-sided picture. Republican counties, defined by the 2020 presidential election vote, gained 3.7 million people from mid-2020 to mid-2023, while blue counties lost the same amount — a time period that encompasses pandemic dislocations and lockdowns and the rise of remote work, Stateline notes.

But those broad trends can belie individual experiences. Rachelle Vega, interviewed last year by NPR, moved from Austin — widely considered the most progressive city in Texas — to Santa Fe, N.M., which has some of the country’s strongest LGBTQ protections. Vega wanted a more welcoming environment for her two adult trans children. In her new home, “There’s this sense of live and let live that is pervasive,” she told NPR.

This political sorting is not only occurring from state to state, but on a city, county and neighborhood level, according to Bruce Desmarais, a professor of political science and social data analytics at Penn State University. In a 2019 study, Desmarais and colleagues found that “people tend to be moving from one very sort of left-leaning city to the next” — like Vega — and the same is true, Desmarais says, for people moving from one right-leaning area to another.

Ticking the boxes beyond party affiliation

Take Stefanie Chiappetta’s experience. Four years ago, she and her husband, Samuel, moved from Middleborough, Mass., to Conway, S.C., and politics were the main reason.

In solidly blue Massachusetts, the town of Middleborough is an exception. It went for President Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris by a comfortable margin in 2024.

Chiappetta says “more conservative” was “box one” on her list when looking for a fresh start after retirement. Second was taxes. She and her husband had been paying nearly $7,000 a year in property taxes in Massachusetts, but in Conway, it’s a fraction of that, she says. The last important item was the weather. Chiappetta says she and her husband both have back issues. The cold weather “was making us more miserable,” she says.

Although Chiappetta puts politics at the forefront, her weighting of other factors illustrates a key caveat, says Steven Webster, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University.

“Americans do have a preference for living near co-partisans,” Webster, who has also researched ideological sorting, says. However, “things like the affordability of homes [and] living in a good school district far outweigh any explicit partisan-based motivation for choosing one location over another.”

The neighbor agreeing with you about President Trump is “the cherry on top,” he says.

Just as Chiappetta gravitated to a lower-tax city and state — which often tend to be conservative — “a Democrat might move to an area with good access to public transportation,” Webster says.

“While desiring access to public transportation may correlate with being a Democrat, one’s decision to move to that area is based [on] that desire rather than being with other Democrats,” he says.

“Places shape people more than people sort into places,” he concludes.

Political birds of a feather

Some researchers put more weight on party realignment — a long-term shift in the political landscape caused by voters changing their allegiances – than voter migration to explain the biggest share of the ideological sorting.

“Southern whites converted Republican, suburbs of major cities converted Democratic, and the political map redrew itself without most people moving,” notes Josh Zhang, an assistant professor of sociology at Stony Brook University.

In 2023, Zhang and colleagues published a study that looked at ideological sorting on a granular level. Using anonymized cell-phone data and other real-time information, they found that “people in heavily Democratic or Republican neighborhoods tend to visit places — religious institutions, schools, restaurants — whose other visitors lean the same way.”

James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, points out that while the general trend is understood, “geographic sorting is rarely, if ever, going to be absolute. Despite aggregate sorting, there are always going to be individual exceptions in a given area.”

Despite Wilbur’s decision to move to be closer to fellow conservatives, he readily acknowledges that such ideological sorting is a negative for the country as a whole. “Nobody talks to each other anymore,” he says. The divisions in our political discourse have increasingly led to physical division, he says.

Davis is also concerned about “isolating ourselves in bubbles” and recalls the rare occasions when she was able to break through to someone in Odessa. She argues that physical sorting reduces those opportunities for connection.

“That’s the importance of being able to sit down with someone, share a beer in a dive bar in West Texas, and have a conversation about why I’m leaving — what’s happening, and why I feel I have to go.”

June 9, 2026 0

So many LGBTQ Texans are moving to this city, it may declare an ’emergency’

Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers — Here’s Where They’re Going |Jen Barnett (Expatsi)

More Americans are leaving the United States than moving in—for the first time in decades. In this conversation, Bob McCranie sits down with Jen Barnett of Expatsi to break down what’s really happening, and how everyday people—not just the wealthy—are successfully relocating abroad.

We cover the rise of global mobility, why “ordinary folks” are now exploring options like Spain, Germany, and Panama, and how Expatsi helps Americans take real steps toward a safer, healthier, and more stable life overseas.

You’ll learn:

Why net negative migration is happening now
How regular people are retiring or working abroad
What “scouting trips” look like and why they matter
Visa pathways (including student and investor visas)
How tools like Google Translate make the transition easier
What it feels like to live in places with stronger civil protections and less daily stress

We also discuss Move Abroad Con, Expatsi’s major conference that helps people turn interest into action. Bob and Leslie spoke at last year’s event, and the results speak for themselves—many attendees have already made the move.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Could I actually live somewhere else?” — this is your starting point.

Make 2026 Your Year: Move Abroad Con, Live in San Diego
Two days of expert insights, life-changing connections, and the practical roadmap you need to finally make your move abroad. Limited tickets available—secure yours now before they’re gone.

May 9-10, 2026, Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego, California

https://expatsi.com/mac-2026

April 27, 2026 0

Angelina Jolie Plans to Flee the Country This Year

Heartstopper, Trans Rights, and Moving to Where Your Rights Are Protected —Flee Red States

In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Rowan Murphy, co-author of Why Are We Like This? Stories of Transformation, a book exploring the extraordinary global response to Netflix’s Heartstopper. Rowan shares his personal journey as a transgender gay man in his early 50s, including: His lived experience navigating identity, visibility, and authenticity Why he ultimately chose to leave the United States How growing civil rights restrictions on LGBTQ people are shaping real-life decisions The deep emotional and psychological impact Heartstopper has had on LGBTQ audiences worldwide.

February 10, 2026 0