Vermont ranked as top state to live in, retaining title

Fred Thys/VTDigger

CNBC has ranked Vermont as the top state to live in, same as last year.

The cable business news channel cited how easy it is to vote in Vermont as one reason, mentioning that residents can opt to vote by mail or in person, and can start voting 45 days before election day.

“No state offers better access to child care,” CNBC added. It did not explain how it reached that conclusion, which may come as a surprise to many Vermonters.

The cable channel called Vermont’s health care system “top notch.” It also cited “clean air, low crime and low stress.”

Vermont was the only state to score an A+ on life, health and inclusion, earning 308 out of 325 possible points.

CNBC found some room for improvement. It said that while Vermont is strong on inclusiveness, the state did not score as highly on that metric as it did on others.

Vermont did not score nearly as well on business-friendliness. It ranked 31st, in part because — just as last year — it ranked last on “workforce,” a metric that measures a state’s success at attracting talent, in particular educated workers. The metric also takes into account state worker training programs and worker productivity, and gives points to states with so-called “right-to-work” laws that allow workers to opt out of joining a union at their workplace. Vermont does not have a “right-to-work” law.

But it did move up in rankings as a state in which to do business. Last year, it ranked 42nd. The state increased it’s overall score over last year in part due to improving from ranking 46th to 22nd on infrastructure.