Is Connecticut the Best State to Live In?

[Ragnarök_62]

(05-20-2016, 07:39 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:pid=1067 Wrote: As I recall I put much value on high levels of educational achievement (better conversation) and a low rate of violent crime (I can see no positive in being in danger, or having loved ones in danger, of violent crime). Those two dovetail well. Climate? I have found that I do better in the absence of a high heat index; I might cope with a dry heat by drinking huge amounts of water, but there is nothing that one can do about high heat and humidity except to retreat to air conditioning.

I also picked low crime as a high priority. I got there by selecting for desolation. I suppose that's something that grows on you.
Small town living in Oklahoma and Los Alamos NM are as close to that as one gets. The heat index here isn't so bad since when the temperature exceeds 100, the winds are from the sourthwest which brings a desert airmass in. Taxes?  Neutral since excess taxes can drive out high income folks.  See Illinois for that one.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2...re-Fleeing

Quote:I had little concern for taxes (you generally get what you pay for), so bad schools are a poor compensation for low property, sales, or income taxes.

Sure, overly low taxes deprive needed services, but if they get too high a death spiral of folks leaving and eroding the tax base can happen.

Quote:Massachusetts and Washington are at the top. So do I go to Boston or Seattle?  I would probably find Connecticut and Massachusetts similar except that Massachusetts has Boston (a delight!) and Connecticut has Hartford and New Haven (dumps). Hawaii? Maybe I fit some Asian-American cultural pattern very well, and didn't know it. Oregon is likely very similar to Washington.

Here's a good tie breaker:  Choose the locale with the best credit rating.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and...tings-2014

Quote:Pennsylvania is a surprise. Southeastern Pennsylvania is hot and humid in the summer.  But winters are mild in contrast to those of the Midwest.  Colorado... Denver or Boulder, I guess. Virginia? Must be becoming more like New England and less like the South. Vermont? Sure, it's cold and rural, and not very prosperous. But it seems to do much well.  #10 is California. Maybe I did leave my heart in San Francisco... but much of California is awful, especially the Central Valley.

Coastal California should be much better after the real estate bubble pops. Who wants to compete with a bunch of hot Chinese money jacking up the prices of out and out shacks?

Dr. Housing Bubble Wrote:1644 Great Hwy  San Francisco, CA 94122
4 beds, 2 baths 1,832 square feet built in 1907
Set aside that this home was built 108 years ago.  The home was listed in February for $799,000.  Of course the listing warned that it would take a lot of work and that it was not for the “novice” aspiring flipper or investor.  Take a look at some other shots of the home:

Great Hwy?  I wonder if there's a freeway out back?

...OK. The bottom.

Quote:The bottom nine states are Mountain or Deep South. Low educational achievement, high crime rates, and high summer heat and humidity make them poor matches for me.

Small towns usually have lower crime rates. Now as far as the Deep South, Houston's sauna weather was lousy.

Quote: #42 is Kansas. Nasty politics? High summer heat and humidity?

It gets hot in Kansas, but the humidity isn't anything like Houston.

Quote: New Mexico would be OK except for its poverty,

That would be location. Los Alamos is pretty well to do with the lab. Folks are of course smart there.  Albuquerque should be OK for a lower elevation area with Sandia labs.

Quote:Nevada? Any place that relies heavily upon gambling for economic survival must have too little to offer.

I'd be more concerned about Las Vegas's long term water supply, and the place is just too large. The idea of placing a huge city in the middle of the desert is weird. Small towns in the Sierra Nevadas may work, depending on real estate prices.