Texas and Florida grew fast as coastal cities emptied out during and after the Covid pandemic. But they've joined poorer states at the back end of liveability lists due to declining healthcare and education standards–and, of course, the culture wars. Texas, in CNBC's list, is now dead last, and even Florida has snuck in the bottom 10.
With the nation's highest percentage of people without health insurance and the second lowest number of primary care physicians per capita, all those new Texans are arriving to find a dismal health care system. Texas has the nation's thirteenth-highest violent crime rate, and it ranks thirty seventh for licensed childcare facilities per capita.
The Lone Star State keeps hacking away at inclusiveness, with laws targeting the LGBTQ+ population, voting rights, and the nation's strictest abortion ban. Yes, there are enormous economic opportunities in Texas, and it is attracting people from far and wide. But this state also has some Texas-sized issues when it comes to life, health and inclusion
Most of this stuff is obvious enough and, if you're in a position to move across the county as you please, they represent choices. While surprise at summer heat and poor local services is a common complaint of such migrants, the big thing that people don't realize is how crime-stricken "Red" places are. It's just not well-reported: Fox News and the New York Times alike are wedded to fables about crime and the big "Blue" city. The reality is that violent crime is off the charts in rural America and they have no plan for dealing with it beyond letting their useless police swallow city budgets already squandered on cars, cosplay, stupid gadgets and the rest of it.
