CNBC released its “America’s 10 best states to live and work in for 2023″ list, and New Jersey ranked third on the list based on multiple factors.
The news site ranked the states on the list based on three factors: quality of life, health and inclusiveness.
For the most part, the site used hard data to measure specific factors, such as crime, air quality, health care and child care in each state. But some metrics factored in more subjective measures, such as surveys from women about how they felt about their state’s abortion laws. This was new to the publication’s annual list in 2023.
New Jersey, which ranked No. 3 on the list, got high marks overall on life, health and inclusion among the top states and received an A- grade.
Specifically, it ranked high on safety, according to FBI crime data, which showed that its violent crime rate was among the lowest in the nation.
It also ranked high on inclusiveness and among women who agree with the state’s laws favoring abortion.
The one area where the state could have improved was under air quality.
While the state’s overall air quality improved slightly between 2019 and 2021, a few counties’ air quality has worsened. Some of these areas have the worst in the U.S., like Cumberland and Monmouth counties, according to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” annual report.
But we all know that traveling along the Garden State Parkway or the New Jersey Turnpike does not conjure up an image of clean air for the most part.
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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.