The Best and Worst State Capitals To Live In

Capitals serve as cultural and political hubs for the states they represent, so moving to a state capital can come with a certain amount of bragging rights. Plus, if you want to work in a government job, these cities can serve as a key stop on your career path.

If you’re considering a move to a state capital, you might want to ask yourself the following questions: What are the best state capitals to live in? What are the worst? Does living in a state capital necessarily mean a higher quality of life? To answer those questions, GOBankingRates conducted a study to rank the 50 state capitals from best to worst.

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These rankings might prove helpful in your search for the right place to live. Some of the capitals are also on the list of best places to buy a home in every state.

Last updated: Jan. 14, 2021

Best State Capitals

GOBankingRates analyzed all 50 state capitals using the following criteria:

• Violent crime rate and property crime rate per 1,000 residents
• Median home list price
• Annual cost of necessities
• School district score
• Unemployment rate of the population between ages 20 and 64, plus the percentage of the population living below the poverty line
• The median household income

The factors were scored, summed up and then ranked from best to worst for each state capital.

The best state capitals all share a few characteristics, including a solid median household income, low poverty and unemployment rates, a low cost of necessities, affordable homes and a good grade for school districts.

25. Oklahoma City

The annual grocery cost in Oklahoma City is below $4,400, making it one of the cheaper cities for shopping. However, the total cost of necessities is on the pricier end at more than $19,700 a year.

24. Phoenix

Phoenix jumped from the bottom 20 on last year’s list to the top 25 on this year’s, but it’s still a middle-of-the-road capital. Its median household income is decent at $54,765, but 19.4% of the people in Phoenix live in poverty, which is tied for the highest among the top 25 capitals on this list. Necessities are a bit expensive at an annual cost of nearly $20,000.

23. Topeka, Kansas

Topeka could be one of the best deals for people looking to buy a house. The Sunflower State capital got high marks for its temptingly low $126,500 median home value, though its median household income is also on the low side at $46,890 a year.

22. Denver, Colorado

Denver has mostly decent scores — including a B grade for its school district — but high housing costs hurt its ranking. The median home price in the booming city is more than $498,000.

21. Salem, Oregon

The median household income for Salem is $56,370, which puts it in the top third of all state capitals. Although Salem has a fairly low violent crime rate, it has only an average score for property crimes. The city sees 41.51 property crime incidents per 1,000 residents, according to the study.

20. Frankfort, Kentucky

A big factor in Frankfort’s ranking, despite its low median household income, is its necessities score. The median cost of non-housing necessities in Frankfort is only $16,780.33 a year, so residents there pay the lowest among all 50 state capitals for things like groceries, utilities, health care and transportation.

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19. Augusta, Maine

Augusta boasts relatively low crime rates and a miniscule 3% unemployment rate, which would have been enviable even before the COVID-19 pandemic. It scores low in median household income, however, at just $40,340.

18. Helena, Montana

Helena, too, boasts a low unemployment rate at under 4%. It also shines in the annual necessities cost category. Helena residents can expect to pay just $16,865.74 for yearly expenditures not related to housing. Its median household income comes in at $56,221 per year.

17. Des Moines, Iowa

At $52,251 a year, Des Moines’ household income score isn’t the greatest, and its unemployment rate is nothing to brag about either at 6.5%. With home values floating around $150,000, however, it’s an affordable city.

16. Olympia, Washington

Olympia has average scores for most of the categories in the study, but where it really shines is in its low cost of necessities. With Olympians paying just a little more than $17,000 a year for non-housing goods, the Washington capital has one of the lowest necessities costs in the study. Also, its school system earns an A grade.

15. Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City has a relatively low poverty rate of 13.5%. The Show Me State’s capital also has fairly low crime rates and a median home list price of just $155,335.

14. Carson City, Nevada

Carson City has the lowest property crime rate in the study, with only 14.47 incidents per 1,000 residents. Violent crime is also low here. On the downside, its median annual household income of $52,034 is not the best, and its median home value is on the high side at $354,444.

13. Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul’s strongest suit is the relatively affordable housing market. The median home value in Saint Paul is only $241,585, but it also has a so-so median household income of $53,619.

12. Cheyenne, Wyoming

Cheyenne has a decent unemployment rate of 5.1% and a low poverty rate of 10.7%. Wyoming’s capital also enjoys a low rates of violent crimes, and its median household income is strong at $63,235.

11. Austin, Texas

Is keeping Austin weird keeping Texas’ capital high in the rankings? While that’s up for debate, the city does enjoy strong household income along with a better-than-average unemployment rates. Furthermore, Austin features low crime rates and a school district grade of A-.

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10. Juneau, Alaska

The snowy capital of the largest geographic state in the nation boasts the lowest percentage of people living below the poverty line at just 7.9%. It also claims the highest median household income in the study at $88,213 — which is a good thing, considering Juneau is also one of the most expensive state capitals in terms of median home value and annual necessity costs.

9. Madison, Wisconsin

Among Madison’s biggest positives are its comparatively low crime rates. The city’s poverty rate, however, is on the high side at 17.9%.

8. Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh enjoys a low poverty rate as well as fairly low rates for violent and property crimes. Its median household income is strong at $63,891, and its school district received a grade of A-.

7. Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis, home to the U.S. Naval Academy, has the second-highest household median income in the study at $83,948, though it’s also a comparatively costly city to live in. The poverty rate is a low 11.2%.

6. Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln scores well across the board, including an A grade for its school district. The one area where it falters is a fairly low median household income of $55,224, but that’s offset somewhat by a comparatively low cost of living.

5. Boise, Idaho

Boise boasts a low unemployment rate of 4.1% as well as some of the lowest rates in the study for both violent and property crimes. You won’t find yourself paying much annually for necessities, either. Boise’s median non-housing essentials costs come in at $17,440 a year, placing it among the cheapest capital cities to live.

4. Pierre, South Dakota

Although Pierre loses Dakota bragging rights to its capital city neighbor to the north, it’s still among the five best state capitals to live in. A solid median household income of $60,077, low necessities costs and an A- grade for schools are among the reasons Pierre ranks so high.

3. Concord, New Hampshire

Only 10.1% of people in Concord live below the poverty line, which contributes to the city’s high ranking. Also, New Hampshire’s capital boasts very low rates of both property crime and violent crime.

2. Bismarck, North Dakota

Unemployment is under 4% in Bismark and the poverty rate is only 9.5%. Property crime and violent crime rates are low as well, and the cost of necessities is less than $16,800.

1. Montpelier, Vermont

If you live in fear of violent crime, Montpelier is the state capital for you. It features the lowest violent crime rate score in the study at less than 1 incident per 1,000 residents, making it the only city on the list with a sub-1 rating in that category. It also has one of the lowest property crime rates on the list, along with a strong median household income of $64,405.

Worst State Capitals

The worst state capitals usually feature low household income, high poverty and unemployment rates and high crime rates. They might also have expensive necessities and housing costs or poor school district grades. These factors become more extreme the lower a capital is in the rankings.

25. Salt Lake City

It might come as a surprise that Salt Lake City has one of the worst property crime scores in the study, averaging 65.15 incidents per 1,000 residents. Utah’s capital doesn’t rank too badly across other categories, but the median home value is pricey at above $450,000.

24. Sacramento, California

The Golden State’s capital doesn’t rank among the worst of the capitals in this study, but it’s far from the best. Lackluster scores in median household income, unemployment rates and poverty rates put Sacramento in the lower half of the rankings. The city also comes with B- school districts and an annual necessities cost of more than $20,000 a year.

23. Columbus, Ohio

Columbus’ overall scores aren’t terrible, but its median income is on the low side at $51,612, and more than 20% of the population lives in poverty. The schools here get a barely satisfactory C- grade.

22. Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee has one of the highest poverty rates of all state capitals, with more than a quarter of the population living below the poverty line. It also suffers from a low household median income of $43,799, though Florida residents can keep more of that money because there’s no state income tax. On the bright side, Tallahassee’s school district received a grade of A-.

21. Springfield, Illinois

The median household income in Springfield is $55,085, which, like so many other categories, puts the city in not great/not terrible territory. A big plus, however, is the low cost of housing. The median home value in Illinois’ capital is only $123,288.

20. Montgomery, Alabama

A low median household income of less than $46,000 per year is one of the biggest blows to Montgomery’s ranking. That income, however, doesn’t have to stretch too far in terms of housing costs. Alabama’s capital has a median home value of just $95,195, making it one of only a handful of state capitals with home values below six figures.

19. Honolulu

Tropical Hawaiian paradise falls into the get-what-you-pay-for category. Although its median household income of $68,873 doesn’t look too bad, Honolulu ranks the lowest in the study for the median cost of necessities. Expect to pay $25,484 a year for items such as groceries, healthcare and transportation. It also has the highest median home value by far at just shy of $1 million — $987,525, to be exact.

18. Boston

Boston is another state capital with a very high housing cost. It ranks second only to Honolulu with a median home value of $637,835. The median household income is a high $65,883, but the unemployment rate is in double digits.

17. Nashville, Tennessee

Music City has a violent crime rate of 11.53 incidents per 1,000 residents, making it one of only seven capitals with double-digit rates in that category. Nashville’s median home price is on the high side as well, at just a hair under $300,000.

16. Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia falls below average among state capitals partly because of its low median household income of $45,663 and its high rate of property crimes. It didn’t help its ranking by getting a ho-hum C+ grade for its school districts.

15. Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe has a fairly high poverty rate of 19.6% as well as one of the highest unemployment rates in the study. And with a median home value of more than $418,000, its housing market is unforgiving. However, the city does have a fair low cost of living, with median non-housing necessities costing less than $17,500.

14. Atlanta

Atlanta has below-average scores in nearly every category, which explains its ranking among the bottom 15. Relatively high crime rates are one culprit, along with a high median home value of nearly $314,000.

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13. Albany, New York

Nearly 24% of people in Albany live below the poverty line, which helps explain its low ranking. So does its low median household income of only $45,500, though its median home value is also low at $188,869. Albany schools don’t help much with a C+ overall grade.

12. Dover, Delaware

Dover’s median household income is nothing much to brag about at a shade below $50,000 a year, though its median home value of $196,614 is on the low side as well. What really hurts Dover is a high unemployment rate of 9.8% and a high rate of property crime.

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11. Richmond, Virginia

Richmond scores low in household income, poverty rates and unemployment rates, and it also receives subpar marks elsewhere. What really sinks Richmond’s ranking, however, is the D+ grade for its school district, which puts it in a three-way tie for worst on the list.

10. Indianapolis

Like many cities in the bottom half of the study, Indianapolis suffers from a less-than-desirable median household income — in its case, $46,442 per year. A high poverty rate of 19.1% and and lukewarm unemployment rate of 6.5% don’t help, either. Neither does a high violent crime rate of 42.43 incidents per 1,000 residents.

9. Lansing, Michigan

Lansing has one of the weaker income scores on the study, with a median annual household income of just above $40,000. The poverty rate is high at 26.1%, but residents don’t have to pay much to live there. Lansing’s median home value is only $101,334 — one of the lowest figures in the study.

8. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

One reason Harrisburg ranks so low is its paltry median household income of $37,356. Meanwhile, unemployment is high at 8.7% and a stunning 27.7% percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Other problems include a school district saddled with a C- grade and a high violent crime rate. Harrisburg shines when it comes to housing prices, however — the median home value here is only $59,920, the second-cheapest on the list.

7. Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston has a low median household income of $41,701, a high poverty rate and one of the highest violent crime rates on the list with more than 62 incidents per 1,000 residents. On the other hand, a sub-$120,000 median home value makes West Virginia’s capital an affordable housing market.

6. Jackson, Mississippi

The median annual household income for Jackson is $37,563, one of the lowest in the study. It also has a very high poverty rate of just less than 27%. Conversely, its median home value of $40,268 makes it the cheapest housing market of any capital city by far.

5. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge has a high poverty rate of 25.2% and a low household median income of below $42,000. Furthermore, its higher-than-average crime rates cement Baton Rouge’s place as one of the lowest cities in this study’s rankings.

4. Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock’s median household income is not great at less than $50,000 a year, but what really sinks Arkansas’ capital in the rankings is its crime rates. Little Rock has the worst violent crime rate in the study by far at about 67 incidents per 1,000 residents as well as the highest rate of property crime.

3. Providence, Rhode Island

A low median household income of $42,158 and below-average school district grade of C- push Providence down in the study’s rankings. What’s worse, however, is the 26% poverty rate and the fact that the city’s 12.6% unemployment rate is dead last among all 50 cities on this list.

2. Hartford, Connecticut

After finishing last in the 2019 ranking, Hartford is this year’s second-lowest capital largely because of abysmal median household income and poverty scores. More than 30% percent of Hartford residents live below the poverty line, which is the highest rate on this list. The median household income is $34,338, which also places Hartford 50th out of 50.

1. Trenton, New Jersey

Bringing up the rear is Trenton, which closely tracks Hartford in terms of poverty, income, and unemployment. The difference is that Trenton’s housing is sightly more expensive and its schools are saddled with an even lower D+ grade.

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Sean Dennison contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: GOBankingRates analyzed all 50 state capitals to find the best and worst state capitals to live in along the following criteria: (1) violent crime rate per 1,000 residents, and (2) property crime rate per 1,000 residents, both sourced from Neighborhood Scout; (3) median home list price, sourced from Zillow’s January through August 2020 index; (4) annual cost of living expenditures, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2019 Consumer Expenditure Survey and local cost of living indices sourced from Sperling’s Best Places; (5) school district score, based on Niche’s Best School District index; each school district had an alphabetical grade (A+ through F), which was converted into a numerical value in order to score, (6) percent of the population living below the poverty line, (7) the median household income, sourced from the 2018 American Community Survey done by the United States Census Bureau, and (8) unemployment rate of population between 20 and 64 as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statisitics: 2020 Rates for Metropolitan Areas. All these factors were scored, summed up and then ranked from best to worst for each state capital. 

Data is accurate as of Oct. 6, 2020, and is subject to change. 

About the Author

Andrew Lisa

Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street’s investment community in New York City.

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