Arbitrary Ranking of the States

[Mott the Hoople]

Wow. I disagree with you about Massachusetts. Have you ever been to the berkshires? There is this place there called The Red Lion Inn that is one of my favorite places. What about Cape Cod? I love cape cod. And you are way too hard on Boston.

However, there are a lot of assholes in Boston, and also a lot of racists. I will give you that.

I don't think so. Boston is the only place I've been to that has more arrogant assholes than Manhatten. Yea, Cape Cod is nice and I have not been to the Berkshires but the rest of the State doesn't exactly inspire, and what natural beauty it has is off set by the generaly unfriendly nature of the inhabitants. Not impressed with MA, last place in NE I'd visit.

Where as your New Jersey gets short shrift....yea the parts adjacent to NYC and Philly blow chunks but the rest of the state is pretty damned nice.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Although anyone who'd rather, no less "much rather' live in south carolina than seattle is suspect to begin with.

Ahh you didn't read my post carefully. I was excluding the States I have not been too. I have never been to Washington or Seattle. I have been to every major metropolitan area east of Austin, TX but the only one I've been too west of Austin is LA and only at LAX so obviously I don't count CA as a place I've been too.

Oh....and before you say that about South Carolina....I'd suggest you take a trip to Charleston, SC. You won't be dissapointed.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

I don't think so. Boston is the only place I've been to that has more arrogant assholes than Manhatten. Yea, Cape Cod is nice and I have not been to the Berkshires but the rest of the State doesn't exactly inspire, and what natural beauty it has is off set by the generaly unfriendly nature of the inhabitants. Not impressed with MA, last place in NE I'd visit.

Where as your New Jersey gets short shrift....yea the parts adjacent to NYC and Philly blow chunks but the rest of the state is pretty damned nice.

Well I love Massachusetts, but then again, I also find people in NYC to be very nice, and very helpful. I have never in my life had a problem in NYC and I am there a lot. I have had people go out of their way in NYC to help me without my even asking. I honestly have met more assholes on Long Island than I have in the city. So I guess you and I just have different experiences. Maybe the next time you come to NYC or Boston Mott, or should I say MUTT (lol), you should try smiling once in a while? YOu must be giving off some sort of superfreak prick vibe without even realizing it.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

Ahh you didn't read my post carefully. I was excluding the States I have not been too. I have never been to Washington or Seattle. I have been to every major metropolitan area east of Austin, TX but the only one I've been too west of Austin is LA and only at LAX so obviously I don't count CA as a place I've been too.

Oh....and before you say that about South Carolina....I'd suggest you take a trip to Charleston, SC. You won't be dissapointed.

It is beautiful, beautiful. And Seattle is wonderful. The weather is not as bad as it is cracked up to be IMO.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Well I love Massachusetts, but then again, I also find people in NYC to be very nice, and very helpful. I have never in my life had a problem in NYC and I am there a lot. I have had people go out of their way in NYC to help me without my even asking. I honestly have met more assholes on Long Island than I have in the city. So I guess you and I just have different experiences. Maybe the next time you come to NYC or Boston Mott, or should I say MUTT (lol), you should try smiling once in a while? YOu must be giving off some sort of superfreak prick vibe without even realizing it.

I have to admit....NYC overwhelms me and that's a bias on my part.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

Well I love Massachusetts, but then again, I also find people in NYC to be very nice, and very helpful. I have never in my life had a problem in NYC and I am there a lot. I have had people go out of their way in NYC to help me without my even asking. I honestly have met more assholes on Long Island than I have in the city. So I guess you and I just have different experiences. Maybe the next time you come to NYC or Boston Mott, or should I say MUTT (lol), you should try smiling once in a while? YOu must be giving off some sort of superfreak prick vibe without even realizing it.

I will give an addendum to this and that is that if you go downtown between monday and friday, and end up in a bar in the heart of the financial district at 5pm waiting for your friend to meet you...yes, you will find yourself in dbag central and you will ask yourself, how did I get here? And it will not be pleasant.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

I have to admit....NYC overwhelms me and that's a bias on my part.

It's okay, if you ever come here let me know I will take you around and you won't have to worry, I'll protect you.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

It is beautiful, beautiful. And Seattle is wonderful. The weather is not as bad as it is cracked up to be IMO.

Seattle and San Francisco are two cities in the US I have not been to that are high on my "Must Visit" list. So is Las Vegas but only cause my niece lives there and it's a fun party town.

Anyways my point I've been trying to make is you have people trying to rate places they've never been too. It's silly.

I don't like OK, MS, LA, KS cause there's practically nothing of interest there geographically, they're flat and uninteresting and the population are generally backward and bucolic. Not really very interesting. Florida is a place I put low on my list cause most of the major cities are fairly unpleasant (though they have nice parts) and once you get away from the coast, Florida blows chunks.

The midwestern states, particularly the agricultural states, are pretty boring and bucolic too though the people tend to be far more friendly and not nearly as backwards as the Mississippi delta States but still....pretty boring. The Great Lakes States don't exactly inspire at first glance either as they strike you as pretty average....unless you can appreciate the value of land then it strikes as extremely productive and valuable geography with lots of natural and mineral resources and abundant transportation routes for trade and industry not to mention some of the best agricultural lands in the world, which explains why about a quarter of the countries population lives in the Great Lakes region. Is it strikingly beatufull? Not really. Are the people exceptional? No, were garden variety hard workers who value education. Can you have an exceptional standard of living here if you have your shit together? Yea....way more than you can in 3/4th of the country.

 

[Dixie - In Memoriam]

I don't like OK, MS, LA, KS cause there's practically nothing of interest there geographically, they're flat and uninteresting and the population are generally backward and bucolic. Not really very interesting. Florida is a place I put low on my list cause most of the major cities are fairly unpleasant (though they have nice parts) and once you get away from the coast, Florida blows chunks.

I agree with OK, MS and KS, but Louisiana is the South's best kept secret. You have the culture of New Orleans and the Cajuns, the food is unbelievable, and if you are a sportsman, it is known as "paradise" literally. Some of the most beautiful pristine wetlands, all kinds of rare wildlife and habitats. This is why it made my Top 10.

Florida ranked 8th, and probably would have rated higher if not for the stinky water, sinkholes and hurricanes. I disagree with the comments on the coast, the most beautiful sugar-white beaches in the US are along the Gulf of Mexico.

The way you were chastising 3-D and Darla, I almost thought you were about to stumble on a point I agree with, but then you sort of contradicted the point I thought you were making so brilliantly, so I got my hopes up for nothing. What I was thinking was, these lists are all subjective, every state has it's good and bad points, and appeals to some people more than others. There is no "correct" list, and no one can ever "win" this argument, it is entirely subjective.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

It's okay, if you ever come here let me know I will take you around and you won't have to worry, I'll protect you.

Thanks.....I tend to be my own worst enemy in places like NYC.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

I agree with OK, MS and KS, but Louisiana is the South's best kept secret. You have the culture of New Orleans and the Cajuns, the food is unbelievable, and if you are a sportsman, it is known as "paradise" literally. Some of the most beautiful pristine wetlands, all kinds of rare wildlife and habitats. This is why it made my Top 10.

Florida ranked 8th, and probably would have rated higher if not for the stinky water, sinkholes and hurricanes. I disagree with the comments on the coast, the most beautiful sugar-white beaches in the US are along the Gulf of Mexico.

The way you were chastising 3-D and Darla, I almost thought you were about to stumble on a point I agree with, but then you sort of contradicted the point I thought you were making so brilliantly, so I got my hopes up for nothing. What I was thinking was, these lists are all subjective, every state has it's good and bad points, and appeals to some people more than others. There is no "correct" list, and no one can ever "win" this argument, it is entirely subjective.

I think were actually on the same boat on Florida. The coastal area is great, get away from the coast....and not so much. I do agree with your point that these listings are subjectve and you are right most States have their good and bad parts. I wouldn't recommend Youngstown, Ohio to anyone in their right mind but the hills of Ohio region is superb. Another example would be Cleveland is a city in decline but Columbus is a city on the ascent.

I'll also give that on New Orleans and to a lesser extent Baton Rouge in LA......but the rest of the State is flat delta scrub land and swamp. As a biologist and outdoorsman I appreciate the diversity of wetlands habitat.....but paradise is not a world that I would use for them. In fact it's harder to find an ecosystem more hostile to human habitation. So there I'd have to disagree with you.

So yea your right each State has it's good and it's bad...some just have more of one or the other then some.

 

[Dixie - In Memoriam]

So yea your right each State has it's good and it's bad...some just have more of one or the other then some.

But it's more than just that, it's a matter of our perceptions of what is important to us. What you think is a "good" thing, I might not be interested in at all, and what I may think is a "bad" thing, is what you like the most about the place. I don't think of LA as "scrubland" and I think swamps are beautiful. But to be honest, the food of Louisiana alone, is enough to garner it a Top 10 ranking, in MY book.

I have Texas ranked #2, behind Hawaii, but for completely different reasons. Hawaii, I mean, who wouldn't want to live there? Given ALL options, I'd take that one. Texas ranks #2 because it's like living in a state that is a country. They have their own Texan way of doing things, and everything in Texas is bigger. From there, Colorado is just unique and beautiful, and this is kind of my general prerequisite for the remainder of my list. The middle of my list was the toughest part, lots of places that are okay, but maybe not my cup of tea, and then the bottom of the list is the same thing, it's just my personal prefs. I am not a big fan of COLD weather, so colder states, even though they may be beautiful, aren't as high as they might otherwise be. Alaska managed a #12 ranking, simply because I think it would be an interesting place to live. I wouldn't miss 114 degree temps with 110% humidity. I wouldn't care to live there during the winter, but for a summer? Sure, I'd go hang out with Sarah!

 

[Dixie - In Memoriam]

I think were actually on the same boat on Florida. The coastal area is great, get away from the coast....and not so much. I do agree with your point that these listings are subjectve and you are right most States have their good and bad parts. I wouldn't recommend Youngstown, Ohio to anyone in their right mind but the hills of Ohio region is superb. Another example would be Cleveland is a city in decline but Columbus is a city on the ascent.

I'll also give that on New Orleans and to a lesser extent Baton Rouge in LA......but the rest of the State is flat delta scrub land and swamp. As a biologist and outdoorsman I appreciate the diversity of wetlands habitat.....but paradise is not a world that I would use for them. In fact it's harder to find an ecosystem more hostile to human habitation. So there I'd have to disagree with you.

So yea your right each State has it's good and it's bad...some just have more of one or the other then some.

I have only been "up north" a few times, but I've not seen anything north of Kentucky that I couldn't live without. My list includes a lot of highly-ranked New England states, because I think they are beautiful, especially in the Fall, and I like the historical nature of the region. I'm sure Ohio has some really cool place you can go get a snowcone or bottle of "pop" or whatever, but I just find little to no personal value in the state. The one time I was in New Jersey, it smelled like garbage there, I don't know if that is "normal" or not, but it was disgusting, and I was in a Four-Star! New Mexico is also low on my list, because when I went there, it seemed like Texas Ghetto.

 

[OnearmSword]

But it's more than just that, it's a matter of our perceptions of what is important to us. What you think is a "good" thing, I might not be interested in at all, and what I may think is a "bad" thing, is what you like the most about the place. I don't think of LA as "scrubland" and I think swamps are beautiful. But to be honest, the food of Louisiana alone, is enough to garner it a Top 10 ranking, in MY book.

I have Texas ranked #2, behind Hawaii, but for completely different reasons. Hawaii, I mean, who wouldn't want to live there? Given ALL options, I'd take that one. Texas ranks #2 because it's like living in a state that is a country. They have their own Texan way of doing things, and everything in Texas is bigger. From there, Colorado is just unique and beautiful, and this is kind of my general prerequisite for the remainder of my list. The middle of my list was the toughest part, lots of places that are okay, but maybe not my cup of tea, and then the bottom of the list is the same thing, it's just my personal prefs. I am not a big fan of COLD weather, so colder states, even though they may be beautiful, aren't as high as they might otherwise be. Alaska managed a #12 ranking, simply because I think it would be an interesting place to live. I wouldn't miss 114 degree temps with 110% humidity. I wouldn't care to live there during the winter, but for a summer? Sure, I'd go hang out with Sarah!

Texas is the one state that could leave the union and be totally self sustaining almost overnight. It has all that geographical diversity and a magnificent coast line to boot. I have lived in Texas in the past for a couple years. I may move there again in the future.

 

[Timshel]

Most Elite/Cool to Most Prolish/Shitty

1) Connecticut
2) Massachusetts
3) New Hampshire
4) Vermont
5) Hawaii
6) Colorado
7) Montana
8) Florida
9) California
10) Washington
11) Oregon
12) Alaska
13) Nevada
14) Michigan
15) Minnesota
16) Maine
17) Arizona
18) Pennsylvania
19) Delaware
20) Idaho
21) Wyoming
22) Wisconsin
23) Rhode Island
24) Nebraska
25) Kansas
26) Oklahoma
27) Illinois
28) New York
29) Maryland
30) Missouri
31) Indiana
32) South Dakota
33) New Jersey
34) Iowa
35) North Dakota
36) Texas
37) Virginia
38) Utah
39) New Mexico
40) North Carolina
41) Louisiana
42) Ohio
43) Kentucky
44) Georgia
45) Tennessee
46) West Virginia
47) South Carolina
48) Arkansas
49) Alabama
50) Mississippi

Feel free to compliment, complain, tweak, and counterlist.

Move Michigan and Arizona down and North Carolina, even with their recent stupid bill, up.

 

[Boris The Animal]

http://freedominthe50states.org/

Here's the rankings that matter. Once again, and you can thank the far left New York City whackjobs for it, the People's Republik of New Yorkistan ranks dead last.

 

[Timshel]

http://freedominthe50states.org/

Here's the rankings that matter. Once again, and you can thank the far left New York City whackjobs for it, the People's Republik of New Yorkistan ranks dead last.

Yes, the economic engines of California and New York in last with the likely net welfare receiving states at the top.

 

[Phantasmal]

Shit, another Coloradoan? Awesome! I was once on a site run by Brent that was like 33% Washingtonian.

Anyway, my low ranking of Ohio is admittedly influenced by my posting on this site. That said, I am not budging on my bottom 8 or so. They truly represent the armpit of America, and if I could drop WV and SC any lower, I would! California would be number one if this list were made in 1990 or earlier, but it has really fallen from grace with it's drive toward bankruptcy and general shenanigans. CT obviously beats out MA for being more elite, but the #2 seed can be proud that it has Harvard (which is cooler than Yale), MIT (and BC and BU are pretty legit for smaller tiered schools), a major city in Boston, and actual pro sports teams that are all very good at the moment.

1. Colorado

2. Alaska/Hawiaii

3. Oregon

4. Washington

5. Idaho

6. New Mexico

7. Nevada

8. Texas

9. Utah

10. Arizona

11. California

12. Minnesota

13. Missouri

14. Kansas

15. Wyoming

16. Montana

17. South Dakota

18 Nebraska

19 Oklahoma





The rest, I have no opinion. I have not been there.

 

[Boris The Animal]

Yes, the economic engines of California and New York in last with the likely net welfare receiving states at the top.

Please! There's more to NY State than just the five boroughs. Unfortunately, as long as NYC wields the most power, the rest of the state suffers.

 

[Minister of Truth]

That's just plain stupid. You're talking about places you've never been and people you don't know. W. VA is a bit to sparsely populated for my taste but it's a beautiful State and the people are very hospitable. South Carolina ranks at the top of my list as places I'd like to live. Let me tell you, owning a home or a condo on Lake Murry or having a home in Charleston, Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach would be awesome and even midland cities like Greenville, Columbia and Spartanburg are nice places to live with nice geography and a wonderful climate (though a bit hot in the summer, 3/4 of the year it's great!). Same with North Carolina. I'd go back their in a heart beat if it wasn't for family issues here in Ohio. Ashville is one of my favored retirement destination. Same with Virginia, awesome State! You have a combination of congenial climate, gorgeous geography and proximity to major metropolitan regions. Charlottesville, VA is another one of my retirement destinations. You also don't know anything about Georgia. Atlanta is the capital of the south with all the opportunity and cultural diversity that implies and Savannah, Athens, Augusta and Albany are wonderful towns to live in. Then you have NH, VT and Maine at the top of your list? Holy fuck balls...they're beautiful States but they're frozen solid 3/4th of the year. I can tell you've never been there!

Well, I'm starting to get a better idea of why everyone here hates Ohio and says all the residents are inbred retards. I think you know me well enough to realize that Southern states just aren't going to get ranked very high on my list. NE is the cultural epicenter of America, with Maine sort of being the bottom tier state that is often accused of being somewhat backward in comparison to its neighbours. Are you sure that lake is still called Lake Murry and not Lake Byrd (you never know, he might have got his hands on it before he finally improved the country by removing himself from it).