The 10 States With the Worst Quality of Life

10. Georgia

> Employment rate: 64.7% (10th lowest)

> Household disposable income per capita: $26,426 (13th lowest)

> Homicide rate: 5.7 per 100,000 (13th highest)

> Voter turnout: 61.9% (tied-22nd lowest)

Georgia residents have among the worst quality of life, based on the nine well-being factors measured. The state fared particularly poorly on the OECD’s jobs metric, as more than 9% of working-age adults were unemployed last year, among the highest rates nationwide. The high unemployment rate may be due, in part, to poor educational attainment rates — as was the case with a majority of the states with the worst quality of life. Less than 85% of Georgia’s workforce had at least a high school diploma in 2013, among the lowest rates in the country. Many Georgians also struggled with poverty, as 19% of the state’s population lived below the poverty line last year, versus 15.8% of all Americans.

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9. New Mexico

> Employment rate: 63.8% (7th lowest)

> Household disposable income per capita: $25,183 (7th lowest)

> Homicide rate: 6.7 per 100,000 (4th highest)

> Voter turnout: 61.6% (19th lowest)

New Mexico is bigger than many European countries. Yet, its population hovers around just 2 million because it has large portions of virtually uninhabitable terrain. A low population density likely partly explains the state’s poor infrastructure. For example, only 54% of households had broadband Internet last year, less than in all but one other state. New Mexico residents were also not particularly wealthy, compared with other Americans. An average New Mexican had slightly more than $25,000 in disposable income in 2013, among the lowest in the country. And nearly 21% of the population lived in poverty that year, second only to Mississippi.

8. Louisiana

> Employment rate: 62.3% (3rd lowest)

> Household disposable income per capita: $28,418 (24th lowest)

> Homicide rate: 10.9 per 100,000 (the highest)

> Voter turnout: 66.3% (14th highest)

A typical Louisiana resident is expected to live less than 76 years, a lower life expectancy than in all but three other states. Many Louisiana communities are also quite dangerous. There were nearly 11 murders per 100,000 people in the state in 2013, the highest homicide rate nationwide and in the worst 10% of all OECD regions. Nearly 20% of the population lived in poverty in 2013, more than in all but two other states. Louisiana boasts a highly productive natural gas industry, with more than 3,000 trillion BTUs produced in 2012, more than any other state except for Texas. However, this also exposes the state’s economy to fluctuations in energy prices.