Top 10 Worst States to Live in America in 2022. 

I grew up in Alabama, and you're right. It's sad. I will never move back there. I joined the Army. I watched everyone graduate high school and work the local dollar general, gas station, or Piggly Wiggly; or go to jail. I wanted none of the above so I left.

Please make a list of cities where most locals say “STOP MOVING HERE!”

I lived in Austin for a year in 2011/2012. Back then you could still see the spirit the city had, it really was still a big town and brought you great value for money, with cool down to earth people and a certain groove to it. Now, it feels like Silicon Valley 2.0, big corporate clearly took over the place and downtown Austin is absolutely unaffordable. Apartments that went for 300k 10 years ago now go for beyond 2 million. Many funky shops and restaurants were gentrified out of the town and all you can do there now is drown yourself in overpriced vegan oatmilk chai lattes…. Breaks my heart.

I'm a Louisiana boy and it honestly hurts my heart seeing the condition it's in these days. I live in North Carolina now and my friends always ask when I'm gonna move back and it makes me laugh because the upgrade in quality of life and cost of living was game changing. Louisiana is expensive af for no damn reason. The taxes are high but the money just goes into what??? The infrastructure of the entire state is crumbling. Roads constantly have ferocious potholes, houses that have been abandoned left and right because of hurricane damage or flood damage. The politicians are terrible as well. Both sides of the aisle are as corrupt as it comes.

Here is some notes I took from watching this video. 10. Texas-Influx of people, ranked 40th in healthcare 9. Oklahoma-Low healthcare, not enough good paying jobs 8. Kentucky-Drug problem, low ranked in education 7. Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Little rock worst cities to live 6. Alaska- Not enough jobs, high poverty and drugs 5. West Virginia- Lost coal industry, drug problems and infrastructure failing 4. Mississippi- Downward slide, epidemic poverty 3. New Mexico- 2nd ranked in worst crime, 24th ranked in healthcare, only 2.8% growth 2. Alabama- 45th ranked in crime, economy, health and worst in education 1. Louisiana- Combination of Alabama and New Mexico, violent crimes, poverty and government corruption.

Born and raised in Texas and I’ve been watching your videos to MOVE OUT. Yes cost of living has sky rocketed, our 1bd apartment in Plano is having a 600 increase a month I am NOT paying 1600 + for a 1bdrm when I can look into a home. So thanks for these videos! Much appreciated.

Born, raised, and live in Northwest Arkansas. And your description on Arkansas is accurate. NWA is easily one of the best places to live in the USA. Iv lived in Texas and Colorado and loved both, but NWA definitely has something special going on, love it here!

It wasn't coal in West Virginia it was the wholescale deindustrialization of the entire region Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Coal was only small part of the decline. It is truly a beautiful state.

I'm a native West Virginian, I live here, and ultimately will die here. Your videos crack me up every time West Virginia comes up, you take it so easy on us. Thank you for acknowledging that we're at least a friendly bunch.

Moved from Oregon to Oklahoma this year. But I knew the state has issues so I came prepared. Made two scouting trips prior and had a job waiting for me when I got there. Overall my quality of live improved tremendously (own a brick home on an acre for the same price as a basement apartment in OR.) There are places here you DEFINITELY don’t want to live though.

Yeah , being from Louisiana I can attest to the crime. We have a huge influx of displaced people from a few different hurricanes/floods. That caused a lot of crime. I totally agree about the corruption/politics. Sometimes I feel like this state is run on greed and ignorance.

Gotta disagree with you on Kentucky. I moved to KY from California in 2016. I own a home which I couldn’t do in CA and make over $60k a year without a HS diploma. I have PPO insurance and consider myself way better off here. 🤷🏼‍♂️

As a Colorado native, I must say the big influx is destroying our state. Prices are through the roof, pollution is bad again and homelessness is soaring. It is so disheartening to see our beautiful state going down the toilet...

Thanks Briggs..I love your videos they are informative,and your sense of humor is great.

We did move to Kentucky. We had Geico Car Insurance before we moved to Kentucky, but Geico cancelled our policy for moving to Kentucky. Too many drivers in Kentucky are not insured, which puts a lot of stress in “uninsured driver components”. The schools are on the agriculture schedule, which means they end in May and starts in August. People kept asking us if we were from Chicago, nope west coast. And a lot of people were down right rude. And the smoking is ridiculous

This video randomly popped up on my recommendeds, and I lightly wondered if Louisiana, my state, was number one, and sure enough. As someone who has lived in south Louisiana for their whole life so far (I grew up in southeast Louisiana then moved to south central Louisiana permanently 6 years ago), I feel hopelessly trapped here. It's true that it's been this way for so long and it's only gotten worse. It's so awful because the state itself is so beautiful but it's so carelessly destroyed inside and out and it's like no one cares or they're too tired or too held down by the system to do anything. And so many people here are just a reflection of the corrupt government, they willingly vote them back into office time and time again. I want to leave so badly if I ever can manage to but I don't want to feel like I'm abandoning my home. I feel like I'll be forced to one day if I get a direct hit from a major hurricane. My parents were on the eastern eye wall of Ida for 5 hours at night when it hit and I was 2 hours away from them and that was still the scariest night of my life knowing they were there, roof being ripped apart on my childhood home, water pouring in from the ceiling. They are extremely lucky that everything survived and that the house is almost completely rebuilt/repaired right now, there are others in my home parish who haven't been able to rebuild at all or still have years worth of work to do, and now it's hurricane season again. Not to mention people in Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana who are still recovering from two major hurricanes in 2020. Insurance companies going bankrupt or only giving 50k for repairs that cost 100k. People are saying it's Biden's fault we haven't gotten assistance for Ida but Trump didn't do anything for SWLA. Well, they usually approve federal disaster assistance, but that little is not enough. It never is. The neglect of this state goes so far beyond any political party and it is astounding at every single level. And before anyone gets at me like "why live in such a hurricane prone area it's y'alls own fault etc etc just evacuate, move, whatever." It's extremely difficult and costly just to evacuate, even with as much notice as we get, especially if you're disabled, have disabled family members, children, pets. It costs money to MOVE. Not to mention losing/relocating your livelihood, family, friends, and your history. Don't ever tell us it's our fault. And just about every single place has their own natural disasters: wildfires, blizzards, tornadoes, earthquakes. Yet everyone's always yelling at us for being stupid for staying and rebuilding. Anyways. Sorry for the rant. Hurricane season always puts me on edge and highlights all of the corruption and problems here.

The description of Texas fits very true to Florida as well. It was great. It's still nice - but the massive influx of people have it congested. There is a huge housing crisis. It is hard to find affordable rent (or even a place to rent) and the cost of homes (if you can snag one) is skyrocketed. Wages are not keeping up with the costs of living. If this continues, Fl will be known for homeless rates. People don't seem to be as friendly as they used to be either. Been here 30 years and I am considering moving on out.

I moved to Louisiana a few years ago for med school and it's... fine. IDK I don't think I'll end up staying once I'm done with residency. Will probably end up in the midwest or NC/SC to raise a family. It's just weird to me, as someone going into primary care, that they're so desperate for primary care docs but simultaneously have some of the lowest salaries and worst benefits in the country. It's just not enough to make our class want to stay. Owning property in the areas around New Orleans also scares the shit out of me, I don't want my house getting leveled by floodwaters every 10 years and having to sell for pennies on the dollar when the neighborhood becomes an uninhabitable swamp.

Not a bad video. Thanks for this insightful geography lesson.

Love all your videos! Cheers from Minneapolis.

Thanks for your videos. I really appreciate that you mention facts, and provide a good summary of pros and cons. Would be helpful to list the links to your sources.

I agree with your sentiment about West Virginia having a decent potential in the future. It does have wonderful landscapes and is close to metropolitan areas which would suit many who are looking for a quick weekend getaway or a cheap vacation home. It could be Vermont-lite or Colorado-super lite if they play their cards right but...

Thanks very interesting

Thank you great info!

Always excellent, well-prepared and precise! Keep up the good-Karen

New Mexico is a gorgeous state and those dirt roads are great for exploring. Unfortunately, there's not much of a job market.

It’s great to know another point of view about these states.

As a Mississippian, I’ve never been so hurt but agreed so much with that final point you made on Louisiana

My top5: California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, Mississippi. There's a reason people are moving out of these states...

Hubby has just recently discovered your channel n we love it learning alot about your country.. we are watching from Perth Australia 💕💕

My husband and I have watched most of your videos and we would love it if you would do one about Evansville, IN? We would be happy to talk about our town and would find it interesting for you to break things down.

I love this channel ❤❤ it’s a favorite

Thank you for the videos, they are appreciated.

I wonder if remote work continues if maybe some of these states listed might see more people move there, working remote, and maybe that could help improve things? Like, if you could work remote, West Virginia's low housing costs would definitely be good for people but obviously it might depend on if tech companies or other jobs continue allowing people to work from home instead of forcing everyone into offices.

Hi Briggs! My husband and I so enjoy watching your videos...Thank you for all the useful information. I would like to see a video on water quality by state/city, and one on air pollution as well. We currently live in one of your favorite states.....Nevada! Haha :-)

Thanks. This reinforces what I already knew. I DO love Taos, NM, though. I don’t need a job, and love the mountains there, so it would work for me. Rock On

Yea I am born and raised in Louisiana and the pandemic really showed my wife and I just how stagnant it was. We moved to DFW and the opportunities are mind blowing. Better schools, ton of jobs, great people, always upgrading everything, and tremendous quality of life!

I have said WV should focus on tourism for the last 50 years. Trying to resurrect coal in WV or Kentucky for that matter, fits Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results. We ha e a beautiful state!! Let's show it off to the world!

I think you nailed it.

I'm very afraid of going out at night, videos like this help me have a great reference list of the worst cities.

After watching a few of the documentaries on the history of the Appalachian people I take my hat off to them, they are some hardworking fearless people! Once I realized some of the similarities between the Appalachian situation and the urban decline and decay I became even more sympathetic to their situation.

Born and raised in Louisiana. Breaks my heart, but can't argue with you. Husband is from Texas. He has become just as frustrated with Texas. The south just seems determined to destroy itself.

I spent 3 weeks at a military base in Mississippi in the early 1980s, between bugs/insects, humidity and sweat it felt like 3 years. Every place outside of the base was off limits, that's how bad it was.

Mississippi is a catch 22. I moved here from Michigan and the coast of Mississippi is completely different than the rest of the state. It’s been booming economically and it some of the most fun I’ve had. Ocean Springs is absolutely gorgeous, and Biloxi has to be the 2nd biggest casino city in the country at this point with more than 10 casinos on the water.

Born and raised in Louisiana and before I even started the video I knew we’d be number 1 worst. It’s as bad as he said and that doesn’t scratch the surface. Poverty is rampant in small towns all across Louisiana. Natural disasters have plagued us year and year. I live in Lafayette and I believe that’s the closest thing we have to a decent place to live. Hate it here.

Good one, Briggs, and very important to those of us (many, many people--) trying to find a home right now. Thanks for the helpful information, served up, as always, with a good sense of humor 👏👍

I live in Mississippi and I TOTALLY agree! It sucks here. Wanting to find somewhere else to move

Checking in from New Orleans

As a UK resident, I'm not qualified to comment too much on much of what has been discussed. But what I do know is that the bringing up of Mississippi has reminded memories of a single I loved when I was a kid. Yes, you'll be favourably on my mind too. As regards New Mexico, that sun-esque symbol on the truck dredged up an old meditation symbol the late departed Barefoot Doctor was taught on a retreat way back when. When not employing reiki symbols in my metaphysical aspect of life, that image will positively live with me for a while to come - once again. For that alone, this video has got a thumbs up. Let's hope the fortunes of the state's concerned buck the established trend. Good luck with that, in all sincerity!

You always manage to make suckage hilarious!

I lived in little rock for 50 years. Then 3 years ago I moved to Shreveport. When this is all you have ever known. I will say that Louisiana wasn't one of my best moves. Thanks for the information. I just thought I might be a loser, but thanks to you now I know I was one.

As a born and raised native Texan and Austinite… I have been waiting for Texas to end up on this type of list. It’s terrible here and it wasn’t 6 years ago. It’s been sliding down hill super fast. It’s also going to implode and the housing market is going to crash due to the insane price climb. There is so much I can say but don’t have enough room to type it here lol. Taking my family and getting the heck out asap. :)

Not to mention that the livable land mass in LA is shrinking at an incredible rate. Through time, it wouldn’t surprise me if the state just became a little ocean cove.

If you move to Minnesota. Be prepared for 8 months of cold gloomy weather. Also, you may want to bring your own friends.

Ayy from New Mexico here I was like if he doesn't mention New Mexico then this list ain't shit and ayy you did. Good shit

Do a video on Jackson Mississippi that would be good

Being in Baltimore and DC all week long, WV is the perfect place to head over for some fresh air and quiet time!

I have a suggestion. How about a video on number ones? Be it good or bad, I'd like to see what every state is number one in.

You're so funny, Briggs. MS and LA are fun to visit and put tourist dollars in. The "downward spiral since the Civil War" comment killed me!

I moved from Sunny Southern California to the cold bitterness of Williston, North Dakota. I miss the diversity in food the most! Tho it is cool to have to learn how to make the food I want to eat if I can’t find it. I do love the snow because I’m not used it! But it’s for sure one of the hardest things I’ve ever done

Long, long term Texas resident here. We left Texas in 2015 because it's getting way too crowded and the property taxes are absurd. We moved to a state which does have an income tax (which you really don't notice), but they have social services which Texas could only dream of, and our property taxes are 15 percent of what they were in Texas. Our overall cost of living dropped by about 50 percent. Also -- and I don't know if this is because of all the people moving in, or our current politicians -- but in our experience, Texas is becoming really, REALLY mean. Totally agree with you about Louisiana. If you're driving off the interstates, a lot of the state looks and feels like a third-world country.

I’ve been in Alaska just over 40 years and for employment most of these years were very good years but not any more. Many of the good jobs in refineries and the oil fields are gone and oil production is about a quarter of what it used to be.

Give me Arkansas, Texas or any of the other of the southern states over California, Oregon, Washington state, New York, Illinois, Michigan etc.. The people in the south are head and shoulders above any of the other states listed.

Good to know!

I moved to northern KY for school and I instantly regretted it. The good thing is that I am only going to school so that will end at some point.

I travel all 48 states each year and I agree that many states are changing. But I would retire in West Virginia any day. Beautiful state, but you need to bring employment with you or start your own business.

SC should have an honorable mention. Sure, it has been in travel mags lauding its major coastal cities as THE destination to travel, but living here is no short of a nightmare.

I'm looking for an affordable house and these videos are really helpful.

Interesting list, and I believe Illinois, where I was born and raised should've made this list. I'm still stuck here at age 32. As far as Louisiana goes, I wouldn't want to live there since it's hurricane-prone too.

I just moved to Alaska and I'm feeling better here than back in California and the job prospects is not bad because of COVID. Ever since COVID, the state has been hiring like crazy

Please check Amelia Azee “Cheapest Places to Live in Washington “. I may be mistaken but I think she is using one of your videos.

I have friends who followed their employer to Texas only to turn right around leave the second COVID showed that they can work anywhere as long as there is internet. Work life balance improves when you don't have to commute and be forced to be social with your coworkers.

I was born and raised in Mississippi so my view will be slanted, the way people treat each other even with low wages sets them apart from less friendly states. I lived 45 minutes to an hour outside Hattesburg towards Alabama on the state line, I would move back but not to a large city but the country. I have seen Facebook posts of people asking about strange cars or trucks that were seen driving around or emergency people showing up everyone watches each others backs in the area where I lived.

Depressingly, I feel this country is being destroyed by drug trafficking and addiction. Many people actually traffic drugs as "jobs." I don't agree with it, but people are going to continue to make this choice for a lot of reasons, and some of those reasons are lack of skills/training/education, resulting in not having enough money to have a place to live, pay bills and eat. The housing market is not friendly to low income workers and people are getting desperate. My humble opinion. I see it where I live in real time and I live in a decent place.

Thank you for people that their states suck. If they don't know & no one makes them aware, they'll stay that way. Some of those places have always been that way so they might not even change if you told them. The best u can hope for is for them to have the decency & humility of the New Mexico news station to admit they suck but say they're trying to improve. The first step of improving a place is recognizing that it sucks. Thank you for your honesty

I'm from Texas, 34 and been here all my life, he's right af, I'm not saying don't move here but I am saying "don't move here just yet", be patient and save save save until the smoke clears

I agree on Texas. It is getting to expensive. I am seriously considering moving to somewhere cheaper.

As someone who lived in lousyana (Louisiana) for 20 years, I can confirm it's very corrupt. I'm surprised that he didn't mentioned that they have one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. They're pretty much bottom of the barrel on most things. I learned more from watching the history and science channel than I did in school. I'd only recommend visiting Louisiana. Do NOT live there. -sincerely from someone who's trying their hardest to never have to go back there.

lmao! 8:07 @ Mississippi description!

As a Louisiana native… I completely agree. And I ask myself all the time, why do I stay here? lol

This is a general guide. If you are happy where you are or what you want to do, then just do it. I just had a friend move to Louisiana; retired; for family reasons. I live in California but I share a rental and I make the highest paying salary probably anywhere in the world for a nurse. But good weather is also my priority.

We should never confuse motion with progress. There may be good and bad in all states. Moving to a state may approve your life, but not necessarily your children’s. Successful states have allowed people to live well for generations. If the dynamics of the state changes overtime, even a Great state may become a worst state. Ppl influence what does or does not happen in a state.

I live in Texas and would choose any of these states on your list over moving to New York or California.

Sorry I relocated to New Mexico you are so right!

I had a productive day, I watched this video, I was thoroughly entertained, and I completely enjoyed it.

Lived in Texas since I was 5, everything you said is true. It's changed and not really for the better, I'm planning on moving in the next 5ish years

I am from the future and you are correct about Texas. I live in the Dallas area, and I love this state, but there is so many ppl moving here and Houses are way too expensive at least in the metroplex. Apartments as well unless you wanna live in the hood. Dallas hasn’t changed too much but i can see the changes in Austin.

Dats right. Missippi be showin' you how it's done. Btw, I came out of Mississippi, and this still cracks me up.

I am a Native Texan and you are right! Housing has gone through the roof, we have the 6th highest taxes in the union. They are cementing our state over just as fast as they can. We are going over the cliff very fast.

Seems that so many of these states share borders: New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas and almost on a border Kentucky.

I am sititng at my desk in Baton Rouge crying at how funny the bit about Louisiana was. Just FACTS but you won't have a NOLA night out anywhere else. The whole reason I started watching your videos was to see what else was out there. You have shown me through other videos that I am acceppting the minumum but this one just put those reasons in a list.

I grew up in NW Arkansas and loved it!!

Surprised my state wasn’t on there. New Jersey. With the loss of good jobs, astronomical cost of living, high rents, insanely high house prices, crime, high taxes, and political corruption, I was shocked. But as always, Mr Briggs, great video. Keep em coming.

It says something about the US that I can't think of a state that I would refuse to live in. My brother got stuckup at gun point in Baton Rouge in broad daylight on the final day of a business trip. My brother explained that he was broke and it was the day before payday. He asked the gunman to come back tomorrow and the guy agreed. At least the bad guys in Louisiana are reasonable.

my partner is from west va and i love the scenery, love the people, love the food… the new river is one of my fav national parks. i want to move to be near his family but there’s just no way he’ll go for it bc he knows how little job opportunity there is. we maybe 4x the amount of money we would living in LA. it’s a higher cost of living but we also live near fresh cheap taco trucks and a beach full of dolphins…. i come back east as often as i can. but i don’t think we’ll be moving there anytime soon.

Nice name!

I live in Houston, and I KNOW its crowded, especially for being its most populous city, I've lived there my entire life.

Cant decide between raleigh area in NC, myrtle beach area SC, or Jacksonville FL suburbs but homes there seem to be on the rise. So most likely NC or SC. I want afforadable townhome in a safe suburban feel area.

Moving out of state is stressful and expensive. But it must suck to live in these places and have nowhere to go. Feeling trapped

I never thought I would live in Alabama and now I'm not leaving until I retire. I may not move when I retire, not sure yet. The southeast corner of Alabama is nice. I moved here to go to work on Fort Rucker and it was a great decision. No big city traffic. Some of the prettiest beaches in the gulf are a short drive away.