WV Rated Lowest in Livability by New Gallup Poll - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

If you ask people where they might want to live in the future, it doesn't look like West Virginia will get too many positive responses.

That's what Gallup found in a poll conducted over one-and-a-half years with more than half a million participants.

West Virginia, followed by Mississippi and Kentucky, ranked at the bottom of states where people would want to live in the future.

The states were given average ranks based on 13 metrics, including full-time employment, economic confidence, job creation, supervisor relationship, standard of living optimism, city optimism, daily learning, access to clean and safe water, access to a safe place to exercise, obesity, smoking, dentist visits, and future life.

"The selection of the 13 metrics was not based on any statistical model, but rather on their presumed relevance to future livability," wrote Dan Winters for Gallup. "Each metric contributed equally to the final ranking."

West Virginia's average rank in the Gallup poll was 43.3, followed by Mississippi with 37.8 and Kentucky with 36.7. West Virginia was last out of all 50 states for several of Gallup's metrics.

"West Virginia is ranked last in the country for five of them: economic confidence, learning new and interesting things daily, ease of finding a safe place to exercise, obesity, and smoking," Winters said.

On the opposite scale, Utah was ranked as the best state to live in the future, followed by Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, and North Dakota.

"Utah does best in part because it is among the top two best-performing states for low smoking habits, ease of finding clean and safe water, having supervisors who treat workers like a partner rather than a boss, learning something new or interesting on any given day, and perceptions that your city or area are "getting better" rather than "getting worse," Winter said.

It wasn't all bad news for West Virginia. The state received an average rank of 20 for job creation; about in the middle when you factor in the average ranks of other states in that same category.

"Clearly, the future livability of any given state is not yet determined," Winters said. "Leaders and residents alike have a keen opportunity right now to set the foundation for creating a place where people will want to live. By focusing on the metrics that have the most impact on forthcoming economic, health, and social well being outcomes, leaders will be able to realize the greatest return on their investment."

The poll was conducted with real callers between Jan. 2, 2011, and June 30, 2012. Gallup interviewed 531,154 adults living in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin of error was 3 percent for smaller states and less than 1 percent for larger states. The results were weighted for gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status.