CNBC Gets Roasted After Its '10 Worst States to Live In' List Consists Entirely of Red States
Liberals love to dignify their biases by dressing them up in something quantifiable and thereby making them look objective. After all, they have no interest in persuading you. They simply want to place themselves and their opinions above reproach.
For instance, if you want to make your political adversaries’ home states look like the unlivable hellholes of your imagination, take the things you hate about them, assign those things a numerical score, and — voila! — you have an anti-conservative screed masquerading as objective analysis.
CNBC used this exact approach when compiling “America’s 10 worst states to live in for 2026.”
The reader could likely guess most of CNBC’s “10 worst states.” But here they are, for what it’s worth, ranked from 10th-worst to worst of all: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee.
For the most part, conservatives on the social media platform X reacted to the list by merely rolling their eyes.
“To score the states for quality of life, we use hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare,” the outlet wrote. “We also consider the cost and availability of childcare, inclusiveness of state laws, and reproductive rights.”
In other words, CNBC blended “hard data” with woke political preferences. If a state forces women to share female-only spaces with men while also making it easier for those women to murder their unborn children, then the “quality of life” score goes through the roof!
In honor of former Vice President Kamala Harris, let us examine those selections by imagining a Venn diagram.
For instance, one circle represents CNBC’s worst states. Another circle represents states that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Wouldn’t you know? The circles overlap.
Next, for sheer hilarity, imagine a circle representing U.S. News & World Report’s top 10 states for growth. Here we have something truly quantifiable: a list based on GDP growth, net migration, and the increase of the state’s young population.
In other words, which states prosper, which states attract people from other states, and where have people decided to settle down and raise families? From No. 1 to No. 10, the list goes as follows: Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Montana.
Remarkably, that list also overlaps with the circle representing states won by Trump in 2024. Somehow CNBC had the gall to include three of those states on its “10 worst” list!
No wonder conservatives on X reacted the way they did.
“If Tennessee was really the worst state to live in people wouldn’t be moving there in large numbers, which they are. Typical nonsense,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida wrote.
If Tennessee was really the worst state to live in people wouldn’t be moving there in large numbers, which they are.
Typical nonsense. https://t.co/jMlfMCb8sw
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) July 12, 2026
Likewise, Clay Travis of Outkick and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, both residents of the Volunteer State, cheekily endorsed the “10 worst” list in hopes of keeping miserable liberals away from their happy and prospering communities.
CNBC nailed this list. Tennessee is THE WORST. You would HATE it here. Stay away! https://t.co/QiEdcdXiuY
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 13, 2026
Yep. Confirmed true. Tennessee is horrible. Never, EVER move here. https://t.co/E4jTgCouj5
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 13, 2026
Meanwhile, others recognized CNBC’s predictable biases.
“10 worst states” based on what?
CNBC had “inclusivity” as one of its criteria.
The numbers tell a different story.
2025 Net Migration Winners (on CNBC’s list):
⁰• Texas +67,299⁰• Tennessee +42,389⁰• Georgia +27,333⁰• Alabama +23,358Biggest Losers (none on the… https://t.co/lc2d2pNTRZ
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) July 13, 2026
This is HYSTERICAL….. @CNBC is so TOTALLY left wing they cannot be believed even for something as unimportant as a “bad states list”… so just imagine how they do on important issues. GEEZ ! “Inclusiveness” is one of the marks of a good/bad state …. HA HA HA… I never… https://t.co/o9GbqiLHRo
— EscapedFromLA (@EscapedFromLA2) July 14, 2026
These lists are always like “Yeah, the economy, housing affordability, and cost of living are better in these states, but they have a lack of trans health care so gotta put them below New Jersey.” https://t.co/KE4r86O9D5
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) July 12, 2026
Yes, the worst places to live are where everyone is moving and the best places to live are actually the left-wing socialist states everyone is moving out of or something. pic.twitter.com/vxzUyJs5A4
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) July 12, 2026
In short, Americans have already rendered their verdicts. They have fled actual liberal hellholes like California, New York, and Illinois. They have relocated, settled, and prospered in conservative states like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee.
Thus, CNBC published that list for one reason: to reassure liberal readers of their own moral and intellectual superiority.
Of course, that meant substituting permissive abortion laws and general wokeness for hard data measuring economic and familial well-being.
But that makes no difference. After all, thanks to CNBC, elitist liberals may once again retreat into their self-satisfaction and comfortable illusions. Talk about the worst place to live.
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