this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
28 points (86.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

41182 readers
1452 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world


7) No Hit-and-Run questions.
Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.


8) No Bots.
Posts or comments from bots, LLM's, AIs, Neural Networks, Transformers, or Marvin the Paranoid Android are not welcome in AskLemmy. Real humans only please.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
top 33 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 7 hours ago

Best: state of denial

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago

Best State: financially secure enough to pay bills and occassional emergencies while also affording vacations/hobbies.

Worst States: poor and homeless.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Almost 1 out of every 5 people in Louisiana live in poverty. And in the US the poverty line is set very very low.

Parts of Louisiana and some of the other surrounding states look like a third world country.

[–] Meatwagon@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Texas. It has every shit policy and politician that Louisiana does, but without expanded medicaid and with toll roads every five feet while every car on the road is trying to kill you.

Louisiana sucks, but at least it's chill.

[–] MufinMcFlufin@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

I've somewhat recently been to some fairly small cities in both of those states and while I'll agree that Texas had some of the worst drivers I've ever seen, the areas I went to didn't look pitifully run down unlike Louisiana. Of course much of this is just anecdotal since I only went to a few locations in both states, but every single Louisiana city I saw felt much more morbid and sullen to me than any city I saw in Texas.

As far as policies go, I'll agree that I don't think they're making great policy choices in Texas but I also think they get more headlines than Louisiana which (from my very limited experience) appears to just quietly sink further into poverty.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

the toll roads are to track you. they couldn't care less about funding road maintenance.

[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does Texas get a internationally recognized "sacifice zone" where it is simply accepted that those people will die for profit?

Texas is bad, but Louisiana is crazy amounts of corruptness with cancer laden areas are simply "well thats what happens".

[–] Meatwagon@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I don't know if its internationally recognized, but Port Arthur. It's the most depressing town I have ever passed through. The skyline is nothing but refineries and every house is rotting. I drive between Baton Rouge and New Orleans regularly and that's my normal. Port Arthur is a whole other level of poverty and pollution.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/sentenced-to-death-what-its-like-living-in-a-cancer-plagued-oil-town/

[–] nosuchanon@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Denial.

The state that most people in America live.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

It's not just a river in Egypt!

[–] Alexfire@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

The best states have healthcare for all incomes, as best they can in the current broken system. They also have other healthy values like school meals for all, right to repair laws, and paid sick and family leave. Once people are not trapped by the artificial scarcity, or even understand it all better, we can make better decisions and be happier, healthier, which improves society overall.

[–] mika_mika@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

As someone who has never lived outside of Illinois except for a very brief time- I would guess it doesn't matter as much what state you live in so long as you live in or close to a major metro area, like Chicago for me, where you can benefit from democrat policy and experience different cultures.

Basically look at a population density map, or of counties that voted dem (who ran again?) over Trump, and you will find better neighborhoods, better schools, better infrastructure, and higher cost of living of course because nice things aren't free. These are the places in the USA you'd want to live.

I would rather live in one of Texas' big cities than a small town in any state. Rural or small town areas are depressing and the people who have lived their whole lives in it have no idea.

[–] mlfh@lm.mlfh.org 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I've been to every state and found something beautiful to love about each one, but California is the best of them by such a wide margin it isn't even a competition.

There is a reason CA is so expensive, and that reason is that it is pretty great overall

[–] FRYD@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

I feel like context is important. I live in NY and it’s pretty great, but super expensive. I’ve heard California is nicer but even more expensive. Minnesota was really nice when I went there and more affordable, but the winters are pretty harsh.

Worst state is gonna be like Mississippi or some other southern backwater. A friend of mine moved to Georgia and he works three jobs and still makes less money than me. Apparently there’s not much to do there either.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

this is going to be very dependent on city vs non city people. like I have to a have a good public tranis system with a metro line.

[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm biased cause I grew up there, but western Washington is very nice.

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Cascadia ftw. I also think Western Oregon is just as nice.

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I like living in the state where my stuff is and where most of the things I go to are.

[–] No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

Best state is the Interstate 75, northbound, because it means you're leaving the states behind.

[–] capuccino@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Bring a resident, I also say Ohio... But I also know that Mississippi exists.

[–] ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I think Ohio on the whole is pretty mid - if I had to live there for some reason I would not be stoked, but it would also not be a tragedy.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

People in my state have made national news for murdering others over the belief that the other person will vote for a Democrat.

I also can't go to a store in girlmode without people following me and/or yelling slurs.

As many people in Southern states say "thank God for Mississippi", here it's "at least we aren't Kentucky"

[–] Schwim@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

Best state: enlightenment Worst state: Denial

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

None.

Nowadays not even Hawaii (which I would have answered until 20 years ago)

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 days ago

Alive. If you're not alive, then, dam. If you are, then you have to cope with living in the USA

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

My favorite so far has been New Hampshire - lots of space, beautiful forests, cool summers, low taxes, and the general libertarian attitude. I don't really have a least favorite. Even the ones that I felt weren't right for me had their appeal. California was the one I had the strongest negative reaction to. The extent of homelessness in the Bay Area was shocking, but on the other hand the climate was absolutely heavenly. (The two facts are not unrelated.)

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You should read the book "A libertarian walks into a bear." It's a real life account of Grafton New Hampshire.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The New Hampshire style lowercase-L libertarians I met weren't like the online uppercase-L libertarians that that book is about. (They generally wouldn't call themselves libertarians, for one thing.) My impression (as, ultimately, an outsider) was that they were practical people accustomed to rural life who thought it was important that everyone should mind his own business.

[–] Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Libertarian attitude is a huge deal breaker.

[–] TheFinn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 23 hours ago

The little l version of it that he described is underrated.