A closer look at New Mexico’s dead last ranking in Wallethub’s “best states to live in”

At the Rio Grande Foundation we are definitely not shy about stating that New Mexico is among the very worst governed states in the nation. Other studies have highlighted this situation.

And the latest Wallethub report which finds New Mexico to be the very worst state in the nation to live in DOES include typically poor ratings on both education and public safety.

But worse place to live? Really? Our first giveaway that there might be issues in the report was the top states to live which included Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. While they ARE growing faster than New Mexico, people are by no means flocking to them (like they are to Texas, Utah, and Nevada which are all lower ranked).

Then we did a deeper dive into the variables including quality of life and economy and found some questionable inputs in those variables . Overall, the report has some  useful information, but the report doesn’t necessarily reflect New Mexicans’ overall quality of life relative to other states.