California places 48th among the 50 states in a ranking of the Best States to Move To, according to Consumer Affairs. There is no improvement in rank from last year. Florida is 21st and Texas is 37th, while New Hampshire, Utah and Idaho rank 1,2,3. California under Newsom ranks 50th for affordability and 49th for safety (which is actually down one position for last year). At least we have the California sunshine.
The metrics measured are Affordability, Safety, Quality of Life, Healthcare and Education, and Economy. Granted this a website that promotes movers, but they say they used data from U.S. Census Bureau, BEA, Tax Foundation, NeighborhoodScout, FEMA, The Commonwealth Fund, NCES, Social Progress Imperative, EPA, Weather Spark, National Park Foundation, National Association of State Park Directors. Based on California’s rank, would you disagree with their finding?
It is also worth noting that yesterday, Travel and Leisure Magazine released their Best US Cities of 2026, as chosen by their readers: Santa Fe, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Chicago, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, New York Alexandria, Greenville, Bend, Nashville, Asheville, San Antonio, Boston. No California cities. Two Texas cities. Read the more about the Travel and Leisure list here.
Read the Consumer Affairs ranking–and see how we stack up nationally, here.
And as always, judge for yourself.
