A website has been ranking the Best State To Live In for the past few years, and NJ actually jumped up a notch since their last survey.

Basing their research on data like Unemployment Rates, Home Values, Median Income, Crime Rates, and more, New Jersey was #5 last year and climbed to #4 this year. Here's what they had to say:

Growing up in New Jersey, I would have told you it's the best state, but I'll settle for #4. What other state can elicit a cheer from every native across the bar?
New Jersey residents are some of the wealthiest in the country; families here earn about $76,000 a year. It's pretty safe in New Jersey, as a whole. And you'd be hard pressed to find a state with a better funded and managed public school system. At least for now.
The downside? It's the most densely populated place in the state, and commute times are longer than almost anywhere else. That's even taking into account the long stretches in Jersey where there are more cows than people.

According to their research, NJ has the 2nd highest Median Income; 4th highest Median Home Value; 7th best Poverty Rank; and 6th best Violent Crime Rank.

Look, you can't argue with actual statistics. I get that if you base it on income or crime rates, then yes, NJ is good. But if you consider that "home value" is basically arbitrary and really just means we pay a buttload of money to own a home, then consider that we make a lot of money compared to the rest of the country because we need to pay for our crazy expensive houses and exorbitant taxes, it shows how data can be skewed.

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