The BLISS Score answers one question: what does the same middle-class lifestyle cost in different states? Below, all 50 states ranked from cheapest to most expensive, with the equivalent income needed in each state to match a $75,000 baseline lifestyle.
How to read this: A BLISS Score of 1.0 is the BLISS baseline (the 30th-cheapest state, currently Virginia). Scores below 1.0 mean your dollar goes further; scores above 1.0 mean you need more income to live equivalently.
Hawaii at 1.65 is the most expensive state: a $75,000 baseline lifestyle costs about $123,500 there. Missouri at 0.78 is the cheapest: the same lifestyle costs about $58,800.
Cheapest state
Missouri
BLISS 0.78 · $58,800 equivalent
Baseline state
Virginia
BLISS 1.00 · $75,000 baseline
Most expensive
Hawaii
BLISS 1.65 · $123,500 equivalent
Complete BLISS Score ranking
| # | State | Tier | BLISS Score | $75K equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missouri | Very Affordable | 0.784 | $58,800 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | Very Affordable | 0.786 | $58,950 |
| 3 | Arkansas | Very Affordable | 0.791 | $59,325 |
| 4 | Alabama | Very Affordable | 0.802 | $60,150 |
| 5 | Mississippi | Very Affordable | 0.808 | $60,600 |
| 6 | Louisiana | Very Affordable | 0.825 | $61,875 |
| 7 | Kentucky | Very Affordable | 0.836 | $62,700 |
| 8 | South Dakota | Very Affordable | 0.841 | $63,075 |
| 9 | North Dakota | Very Affordable | 0.844 | $63,300 |
| 10 | Tennessee | Very Affordable | 0.848 | $63,600 |
| 11 | Michigan | Affordable | 0.858 | $64,350 |
| 12 | Indiana | Affordable | 0.871 | $65,325 |
| 13 | South Carolina | Affordable | 0.876 | $65,700 |
| 14 | Ohio | Affordable | 0.877 | $65,775 |
| 15 | Texas | Affordable | 0.885 | $66,375 |
| 16 | West Virginia | Affordable | 0.888 | $66,600 |
| 17 | Nebraska | Affordable | 0.898 | $67,350 |
| 18 | Kansas | Affordable | 0.904 | $67,800 |
| 19 | New Mexico | Affordable | 0.905 | $67,875 |
| 20 | Iowa | Affordable | 0.908 | $68,100 |
| 21 | Georgia | Affordable | 0.909 | $68,175 |
| 22 | Idaho | Affordable | 0.929 | $69,675 |
| 23 | Wyoming | Affordable | 0.940 | $70,500 |
| 24 | North Carolina | Affordable | 0.946 | $70,950 |
| 25 | Pennsylvania | Affordable | 0.948 | $71,100 |
| 26 | Illinois | Near Baseline | 0.979 | $73,425 |
| 27 | Florida | Near Baseline | 0.981 | $73,575 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | Near Baseline | 0.988 | $74,100 |
| 29 | Minnesota | Near Baseline | 0.998 | $74,850 |
| 30 | Virginia | Near Baseline | 1.000 | $75,000 |
| 31 | Montana | Near Baseline | 1.003 | $75,225 |
| 32 | Nevada | Near Baseline | 1.014 | $76,050 |
| 33 | Utah | Near Baseline | 1.015 | $76,125 |
| 34 | Arizona | Near Baseline | 1.033 | $77,475 |
| 35 | Delaware | Moderately Expensive | 1.052 | $78,900 |
| 36 | Maryland | Moderately Expensive | 1.094 | $82,050 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | Moderately Expensive | 1.101 | $82,575 |
| 38 | Washington | Moderately Expensive | 1.113 | $83,475 |
| 39 | Maine | Moderately Expensive | 1.130 | $84,750 |
| 40 | Rhode Island | Moderately Expensive | 1.133 | $84,975 |
| 41 | Alaska | Moderately Expensive | 1.145 | $85,875 |
| 42 | Oregon | Moderately Expensive | 1.153 | $86,475 |
| 43 | Colorado | Moderately Expensive | 1.165 | $87,375 |
| 44 | Connecticut | Moderately Expensive | 1.186 | $88,950 |
| 45 | Vermont | Moderately Expensive | 1.213 | $90,975 |
| 46 | New Jersey | Moderately Expensive | 1.239 | $92,925 |
| 47 | New York | Expensive | 1.384 | $103,800 |
| 48 | Massachusetts | Most Expensive | 1.500 | $112,500 |
| 49 | California | Most Expensive | 1.528 | $114,600 |
| 50 | Hawaii | Most Expensive | 1.647 | $123,525 |
Run your own BLISS calculation
Enter your state and current income to see what equivalent salary you'd need in any other state.
Open the Best Life State Salary Calculator ›What this ranking reveals
The BLISS Score exposes a structural truth about American cost of living: there's a broad, affordable middle and a sharp expensive tail. The gap between Hawaii (1.65) and California (1.53) is larger than the gap between Missouri (0.78) and Pennsylvania (0.95). In other words, the most expensive states are dramatically more expensive than baseline, while most "cheap" states are only modestly cheaper.
The expensive cluster is small
Just 4 states score above 1.35: New York, Massachusetts, California, and Hawaii. These four account for most of the dramatic cost gap with the rest of the country.
Affordability is a wide band
30 states fall at or below the baseline of 1.0. Most cluster between 0.85 and 1.0, meaning your dollar goes 5, 15% further than baseline rather than dramatically further.
No-income-tax doesn't equal cheap
Texas (#15), Florida (#27), Nevada (#32), and Washington (#38) all have no state income tax, but their BLISS Scores vary widely. Cost of living matters more than tax structure for many households.
Geography clusters the data
The South dominates the affordable end. The Mountain West clusters near baseline. The Northeast and Pacific coast occupy the expensive tier almost entirely.
How the BLISS Score is computed
The BLISS Score (the Best Life Index, State Specific) uses U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey shares to model a reference middle-class household's spending across housing, transportation, food, healthcare, utilities, and other categories. Each category is adjusted by state-specific data from Census, Zillow, EIA, KFF, EPI, and Tax Foundation. The baseline of 1.0 is anchored at the 30th-cheapest state (currently Virginia), so 30 states fall at or below baseline and 20 above.
Read the full BLISS methodology ›