New York Is Officially One of America’s Best States to Live in 2026

New Yorkers love to complain about New York. The taxes. The cost of living. The weather that can apparently cycle through all four seasons before dinner.

But according to a new ranking, living here has some pretty big perks.

WalletHub released its 2026 Best States to Live In report, comparing all 50 states to find the places offering residents the best overall living conditions. New York didn't quite crack the Top 10, but it came pretty close, and took the top spot in one major category.

New York Is the 12th Best State to Live in America

WalletHub ranked New York 12th overall among the 50 states, with a total score of 57.12.

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To come up with the rankings, researchers compared states across 51 different measures of livability. Those were divided into five main categories:

• Affordability
• Economy
• Education and health
• Quality of life
• Safety

The study looked at everything from housing affordability and household income to schools, hospital quality, crime, commute times and access to things to do.

And this is where things get interesting for New York.

New York Has the Best Quality of Life in the Country

New York ranked No. 1 in the entire country for quality of life. Yes, even with the snow.

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That category considers a pretty wide range of things that impact what it's actually like to live somewhere, including commute times, public transportation, road quality, traffic, restaurants, bars, museums, performing arts centers, fitness centers, beaches, weather and air quality.

New York also performed well when it comes to safety, ranking seventh in the country.

Education and health landed at No. 16, while New York's economy ranked 22nd.

There's One Category Dragging New York Down

You can probably guess this one.

Affordability.

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New York ranked a painful 47th out of 50 states for affordability. Only a handful of states scored worse. The affordability portion of WalletHub's study considers housing affordability, property taxes, cost of living, household income and homeownership.

New York also had the lowest homeownership rate in the country, ranking 50th on that individual measure. So, basically, New York is a great place to live,  assuming you can afford to live here.

These Are the Best States to Live in 2026

Idaho took the title of Best State to Live in America for 2026, followed by our neighbors in New Jersey (I know... I'm still shocked)

The Top 10 are:

1. Idaho
2. New Jersey
3. Wisconsin
4. Massachusetts
5. New Hampshire
6. Wyoming
7. Utah
8. Minnesota
9. Pennsylvania
10. Florida

Iowa came in 11th, putting it just ahead of New York.

At the other end of the ranking, New Mexico was named the worst state to live in for 2026, followed by Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska and Arkansas.

So the next time you're complaining about living in New York, and let's face it, it's basically a state pastime, remember this: we may be paying a lot to be here, but apparently we're getting America's best quality of life in return.