North Carolina: Study Shows the Quality of Life in the State

Each state has its own charm and unique offerings for residents, but which states are the best to live in for 2026? The answer to that question has to do with each state's quality of life.

The quality of life, according to the National Institutes of Health, is an idea that serves to "capture the well-being of a population or individual regarding both positive and negative elements."

They add that factors include "personal health (physical, mental, and spiritual), relationships, education status, work environment, social status, wealth, a sense of security and safety, freedom, autonomy in decision-making, social belonging and physical surroundings."

So, what's the quality of life in this state? Let's dive in and see what the research says.

The crew at Visual Capitalist has released a study about the states with the best and worst quality of life. "Using data from WalletHub, which evaluates 51 metrics across affordability, economic opportunity, safety, and health, this map ranks all 50 U.S. states by quality of life," they note in the piece.

As for the state with the highest marks, it's Massachusetts, which had a strong combination of high incomes, leading healthcare access and top universities. Something unique about this year's tally is that Midwest states dominated the top 10, with Wisconsin coming in at No. 4 and Minnesota at No. 5 because of the region's ability to balance "strong economic, health, and educational outcomes with relatively better affordability."

The two states with the worst rankings, according to the study, were New Mexico at No. 50 and Louisiana at No. 49.

So, let's get to this state. According to the study, it ranked at No. 22 among all the other states with a total "Quality of Life" score of 52.3.