Flee West Virginia as Soon as Possible

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Flee West Virginia as Soon as Possible

© Sean Pavone / iStock via Getty Images

West Virginia ended up near the bottom of another list that measures states for livability, business friendliness, environment, quality of life, health ratings, education and income. It has become one of the worst states to live in, if not the worst. It is time for people in West Virginia to leave the troubled state if they can. (This is where young people want to relocate to the most.)

Life Extension recently released its ranking of states based on the health of their residents and how long they live. West Virginia was at the bottom of this list, and its residents had among the shortest average lifespans at 72.8. Only Mississippi was worse at 71.9.

Few states have more people who live below that poverty level than West Virginia. It ranks 46th among all states at 16.8%. The state’s median household income is $50,884, compared to the national number of almost $70,000.

The percentage of the population that is obese is very high in West Virginia. At 40.6%, it is the highest among all states. Obesity triggers many health problems, including heart attacks, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. It can also lead to early death.
[nativounit]
Several major research reports also put West Virginia at or near the bottom. The U.S. News state rankings put the state in 47th place. It ranks near the bottom in health care, education and infrastructure.
[wallst_email_signup]
In the World Population Review of Best States to Live, West Virginia ranks 47th, behind only Louisiana, Mississippi and New Mexico.

West Virginia ranks 44th among CNBC’s Best States for Business.
[recirclink id=1163587]
One problem with leaving a state where most people do not want to live is how they leave and where they go. For the most part, West Virginia natives do not have higher education skills, compared to those in most other states, making it difficult to find good jobs. That creates a dilemma.

However, there are several states nearby people could leave for. The best example is Virginia, which is on most lists of best places to live.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

AKAM Vol: 21,556,944
MU Vol: 65,135,624
INTC Vol: 227,504,426
MNST Vol: 15,284,847
DELL Vol: 12,167,525

Top Losing Stocks

MSI Vol: 3,101,643
EXPE Vol: 4,189,786
CTRA Vol: 73,319,495