--- title: Gallup Poll on Best Worst Places to Live description: Gallup poll on the best and worst states to live. canonical: https://time.com/77196/the-worst-states-to-live-in-according-to-people-who-live-there/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-25T14:59:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:07.546Z og:title: The Worst Places to Live in America og:description: Rhode Island and Illinois residents have the lowest opinion of their states og:url: https://time.com/77196/the-worst-states-to-live-in-according-to-people-who-live-there/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ccad059c1e38f2/69868c86e8524b7b2b60293a/usa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: usa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Worst Places to Live in America twitter:description: Rhode Island and Illinois residents have the lowest opinion of their states twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ccad059c1e38f2/69868c86e8524b7b2b60293a/usa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Worst States to Live in (According to People Who Live There)  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 25, 2014 2:59 PM UTC  Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 25, 2014 2:59 PM UTC People who reside in Montana and Alaska are more likely to say their state is the best place to live, while people in Rhode Island and Illinois are more likely to say their state is the worst, Gallup [reports](http://www.gallup.com/poll/168653/montanans-alaskans-say-states-among-top-places-live.aspx). Residents who have the highest opinion of their states: Montana: 77% Alaska: 77% Utah: 70% Wyoming: 69% Texas: 68% Hawaii: 68% New Hampshire: 67% North Dakota: 66% Colorado: 65% Vermont: 61% Oregon: 61% Minnesota: 61% Residents who have the lowest opinion of their states: Rhode Island: 18% Illinois: 19% Mississippi: 26% Louisiana: 27% Michigan: 28% New Mexico: 28% New Jersey: 28% Maryland: 29% Missouri: 29% Connecticut: 31% In general, the pollsters argue that Americans who have the highest opinion of their states report having high trust in their state government and are less negative about the state taxes they pay (based on past Gallup polls) than the residents who think their states are the worst. Gallup [adds](http://www.gallup.com/poll/168653/montanans-alaskans-say-states-among-top-places-live.aspx): --- > “” --- Gallup interviewed at least 600 residents in each state between June and December 2013, measuring for the first time “whether residents view their states as ‘the best possible state to live in,’ ‘one of the best possible states to live in,’ ‘as good a state as any to live in,’ or ‘the worst possible state to live in.’ The margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/77196/the-worst-states-to-live-in-according-to-people-who-live-there/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/77196/the-worst-states-to-live-in-according-to-people-who-live-there/"},"headline":"The Worst States to Live in (According to People Who Live There)","datePublished":"2014-04-25T14:59:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:07.546Z","description":"Generally people who live in the West and the Midwest have a high opinion of their states","url":"https://time.com/77196/the-worst-states-to-live-in-according-to-people-who-live-there/","keywords":["Newsfeed","nation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54ccad059c1e38f2/69868c86e8524b7b2b60293a/usa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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