Monday Open Thread: Best & Worst States

As someone who recently moved cross-country, I know that there are definite advantages and disadvantages to living in certain places. Government regulation in a state rarely defines life in that state, but can definitely impact quite a lot of aspects. Now that I live in California, I know that the advantages of perfect weather and proximity to the beach are offset by a few things: high gas prices, high taxes, and poor government (i.e. bad public schools, etc). That doesn’t even include things such as the regulatory state increasing the cost of every other product.

For the open thread, perhaps tell us a little about where you live, and why it’s a good or bad state… I’d particularly love to hear about some of the folks up in the Free State; once I can get my wife to stop voting Democrat, I might try to convince her to move cross-country to the bitter cold of freedom :-)