What’s right (and wrong) about California: How 14 rankings score the state

by Jonathan Lansne, East Bay Times, January 2, 2019 (excerpts)

Gallup’s year-round polling on social and economic issues gave California a No. 14 ranking. Top places for quality of life by this scorecard were South Dakota, Vermont and Hawaii. Worst? West Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas….

I filled my trusty spreadsheet with 14 state-by-state rankings on various quality-of-life subjects. I used different sources for each ranking to keep biases to a minimum….

Only five states had more wildly gyrating rankings than California — Hawaii, Vermont, Alaska, Nevada and Connecticut — when I applied standard deviation math to the 14 ranking results. It’s what I’d call a quasi-coastal crowd.

This geeky volatility measurement found that rankings were most consistent for Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Montana. This is a decidedly a middle-America grouping.

The variance in how California scored is certainly food for thought about how the state can better itself. So, here’s how 14 rankings graded California, from what you could say are the state’s best attributes to its worst….

4. Being a patient: United Health Foundation’s yardstick scored California’s healthcare 12th best for its relatively broad availability and higher quality of care. Top spots to be sick were Hawaii, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Worst? Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

5. Livability: Gallup’s year-round polling on social and economic issues gave California a No. 14 ranking. Top places for quality of life by this scorecard were South Dakota, Vermont and Hawaii. Worst? West Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas….

7. Personal freedom: The Cato Institute, often a harsh critic of the state, gave California a No. 23 ranking for laws friendly to the populace. Tops for these freedoms, according to these rankings were Maine, Nevada and New Mexico. Worst? Texas, Alabama and Hawaii….

12 (tie). Cost of living: Anybody surprised, Part II? Missouri’s tracking of how expensive life is in each state shows California as the second priciest place to live. Hawaii was most expensive, by this math; New York was No. 3. Looking for a bargain? Try the low-cost leaders Mississippi, Oklahoma or Arkansas.

14. Transportation: Recent gas-tax debates did have a universal truth: California roads stink. Bankrate scored the state dead-last at No. 50 for everything transportation-related, just ahead of Hawaii and Connecticut. Best places to get around, by this yardstick, were in North Dakota, Iowa and Ohio.

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Hawaii

• 36 -- Overall Rank (Average)
• 49 -- Transportation (Bankrate)
• 47 -- Business Climate (CNBC)
• 33 -- Raising a Family (WalletHub)
• 18 -- Worker Rights (Oxfam)
• 38 -- Taxes (Tax Foundation)
• 29 -- Education (US News )
• 6 -- Economy (24/7 Wall Street)
• 50 -- Cost of Living (State of Missouri)
• 3 -- Livability (Gallup)
• 48 -- Personal Freedoms (Cato Institute)
• 1 -- Healthcare (United Health Foundation)
• 38 -- Government solvency (George Mason U.)
• 47 -- Population growth (Census)
• 16 -- Job Growth (Bureau of Labor Statistics)