The next five positions are taken this year by Arizona (unchanged at #6), Tennessee (up to #7 from #10), New York state (stable at #8), Washington state (down from #5 to #9), and Oregon (#10 compared to #9 last year).
In general, the list this year is not very different from last year or the last several years, with the important exception of California overtaking Florida in first place. There were no new states introduced into the top 15 list this year, and almost all of them have been in the top 15 every year since 1997.
"If you could live in or near any state in the country except the state you live in now, what state would you choose to live in?"
RANK NOW | RANK IN | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
1 | California | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
2 | Florida | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
3 | Hawaii | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
4 | Colorado | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
5 | North Carolina | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
6 | Arizona | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
7 | Tennessee | 5 | 6 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
8 | New York | * | 15 | * | 10 | 8 | 8 |
9 | Washington | 8 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 9 |
10 | Oregon | 9 | 9 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 10 |
11 | Montana | * | * | 7 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
12 | Virginia | 14 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 12 |
12 | Alaska | 15 | 15 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 12 |
14 | Texas | 10 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 14 |
15 | Georgia | 11 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 15 |