Minnesota Ranked #1 for Quality of Life (Without Winning a Single Category)

Minnesota was just named the #1 state in the country for quality of life. Here’s the strange part: the report scored 31 parts of daily life, and Minnesota didn’t finish first in a single one. So how do you win the whole thing without winning anything? Here’s what Minnesota does well, and where the same report calls us out.

Figures are as I shared them in the video above (September 2026).

What the ranking is

It’s the State of the States report from the State of the Nation Project, a bipartisan research group tied to Tulane University and funded by Tulane and the Murphy Institute. No tourism board or sponsor paid for it.

It compared all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., on 31 measures of work, health, civic life and social connection, using data back to 1990. Every measure counted equally, so great weather couldn’t carry a state, and neither could low taxes.

The results: Minnesota’s average rank across the 31 measures was 13.9, the best in the country. New Hampshire was second (14.6), Iowa third (15.9), and Louisiana last (about 40.7). Six Midwest states made the top 10, and Minnesota beat all of them.

U.S. News’s separate Best States list, with different categories and scoring, put Minnesota 3rd overall, behind Utah and South Dakota. Two methods, nearly the same answer.

The decathlon state

Minnesota isn’t the fastest sprinter or the strongest thrower; it’s very good at a lot of things. Plenty of states are elite at one thing and rough at others: great weather but weak health care, or low taxes but thin services. Nobody lives in one category, though. You live in all of them at once: your job, your neighbors, your doctor, and a Tuesday in January at 9 below.

Strength #1: people work here

Employment may be the biggest reason Minnesota won. Among adults 25 to 54, Minnesota ranked 3rd for people working or looking for work, 3rd for the share with jobs, and 4th on the poverty measure.

That matters when you buy a home. Paychecks keep neighborhoods and housing markets steady, and homes hold value when the people around them are working.

Those jobs come from a diverse base: 18 Fortune 500 headquarters, the most since 2021, across health care, food and banking, industries people can’t live without. UnitedHealth Group is the biggest, the third-largest company in the country, with about $448 billion in revenue. Target, Best Buy, 3M, U.S. Bancorp and General Mills are here too. (Life Time Fitness opened its first club in Brooklyn Park in 1992.) And Mayo Clinic in Rochester was ranked the #1 hospital in the world, and top nationally in 14 specialties.

Strength #2: social connection

This is the one you can’t look up before a move. Minnesota ranked 4th for social capital (how connected people are), 4th for volunteering and 4th for low social isolation.

People ask about “Minnesota nice” constantly. Honestly: folks are friendly the day you meet them, but getting into someone’s circle can take longer. Once you’re in, you’re in, and those relationships stick. It’s a culture shock for some, and a big reason people stay.

Strength #3: health

Minnesota ranked 8th for life expectancy and 8th for low birth weight rates. Outside the metro you can still find good health care without driving three hours to see a specialist.

A major weak spot: youth depression, where Minnesota ranked 43rd of 51, and the report says it’s getting worse faster than the country overall.

What it costs to live here

Day-to-day costs land near the national average; most 2026 indexes put Minnesota between 94 and 97, where 100 is the national average. The statewide median home price in July was $375,000 and the Twin Cities metro about $408,000, both below the national median of roughly $440,000. Coming from California or Boston, that can feel life-changing.

The other side: Minnesota’s income tax has four brackets, from 5.35% to 9.85%, and that top rate is one of the highest in the country (it only applies to the top bracket). There’s no sales tax on clothing, groceries or prescriptions, but that doesn’t offset the top rate.

That money does buy something: Minneapolis alone has 185 park properties and more than 7,000 acres of parkland and water, plus a strong road network and MSP Airport, about 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis, ranked #1 in North America among mega airports for passenger satisfaction three of the last four years. Whether that trade is worth it is your call.

Where the report is less kind

• Environment: 32nd overall. Greenhouse gas emissions ranked 38th and are getting worse; air quality ranked 25th.
• Context: some national numbers were rough everywhere. On eight measures, no state improved (including life satisfaction, adult and youth depression, and long-term unemployment). Only two improved in every state: child mortality and state GDP.

Every bad score still counted in the average, and Minnesota came out on top anyway.

Should a ranking pick your address?

No. But this one gives an honest look at the good, the bad and the ugly. If you’re weighing Minnesota against somewhere warmer or cheaper at tax time, tell us what you’re comparing and we’ll go through the trade-offs with you, including the ones that might talk you out of it.