BLISS open data
Cost of living and quality of life for all 50 states, as one file. Free to use with credit and a link.
Download
- CSV , 3,794 bytes. 50 rows, one per state.
- JSON , 21,954 bytes. Same data, with the definitions included in the file.
Licence
Free to use with credit and a link to bestlifeindex.com/data. That is the whole licence. Republish it, chart it, load it into a model, build something on top of it. The only thing we ask is that the credit stays attached, because a number without a source is how a figure ends up three articles away from anything checkable.
How to cite it
Best Life Index, BLISS state metrics, 2026. bestlifeindex.com/data
The five cheapest states, as a sample
| State | BLISS | To match $75,000 | vs average | Quality of life rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 0.784 | $58,800 | -22% | 11 |
| Oklahoma | 0.786 | $58,950 | -21% | 46 |
| Arkansas | 0.791 | $59,325 | -21% | 40 |
| Alabama | 0.802 | $60,150 | -20% | 41 |
| Mississippi | 0.808 | $60,600 | -19% | 49 |
What each column means
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
state | State name |
bliss | BLISS score, 1.000 = national baseline. Below 1 is cheaper. |
bliss3 | BLISS score to three decimals, the figure the tools compute with. |
blissRank | Rank by BLISS score, 1 = cheapest of the 50 states. |
equiv75k | Salary needed here to live as $75,000 does in an average state. |
medianIncome | Median household income, in dollars. |
costVsAverage | Cost of living against the national average, as a percent. Negative is cheaper. |
affordability | Affordability rank, 1 = cheapest. |
overall | Overall quality-of-life rank, 1 = best. |
Cost of living | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Climate | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Economy | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Green space | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Air quality | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Walkability | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Healthcare | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Education | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Safety | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Dog friendly | Category rank, 1 = best of the 50 states. |
Where the numbers come from
BLISS is built on public data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census, the Tax Foundation and other government and research sources. The full method, including the weightings and what the score does and does not capture, is on the BLISS methodology page.
These are the same figures the state pages and the cost of living calculator use. There is no second set of numbers behind them.
What this data will not tell you
BLISS costs one reference lifestyle in every state, which is what makes states comparable at all, and it is why the number answers how much further does my money go there and not what will I actually spend. It is a state-level index, so it cannot see the difference between a city and a rural county in the same state, which is often larger than the difference between two states. Cite it for comparison between states. It is the wrong instrument for budgeting a household.