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

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 

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 

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 

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

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 

“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 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 

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 

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

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 

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 

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