I don't think there is best. Kinda depends on what you look for.
If I was looking for a job, definitely living for free in stealth van and having job in high income city would cheat the system. So maybe New York or California.
As someone who has actually traveled across most of America, I think my opinion is held at a higher regard
1. Northern Coastal California 2. New York City 3. Florida 4. New England 5. The South
San Francisco is one of the most geographically gifted places I've been to. It's very hilly in some areas and just flat in others. It has a beach, It's a peninsula. It seems like it could be it's own state at times. I love vacationing at this city. I only wish that I could have been here during the summer of loves and be a hippy.
Because it's highly affordable, fun to drive (outside commutes), has a great food scene (SF, LA, and NYC probably have much more accessible variety and quality of ethnic cuisines, but Houston is more innovative), and has a lot of little bits of culture interspersed throughout the state. Also kolaches. It's so hard to get kolaches outside Texas. But I have some questions:
1. Is money a constraint? Is this from the perspective of an average person? If not, California wins empirically. If money is not an object, California is where you'd probably move to. It's to America what America is to Western Europe: much better if you can afford it, much worse if you can't.
2. Are these the best places to live in or visit? If the latter, Hawai'i, New York, and California win easily over Texas, Virginia, Wyoming, and basically the rest of the state.
When most Americans visit forgein nations, they say they are from America, not the state. Except for a few states that take immesne pride in their state instead of the nation, most notably Texas. No wonder it leads (and yes I also vote Texas cause it's where I live).
