have you ever wondered if a state was going to get better or is about to collapse this is something people talk about around the start of every new year there are many reasons people feel this way real estate prices are too high crime rates taxes budget shortfalls for whatever reason people always seem to think that a city or a state will get so bad that it could be considered a fail state or just collapsed we asked just under 3200 Americans which states they felt were heading towards a collapse or at least some really hard times
so today we are looking at States Americans think are heading in the wrong direction and could possibly collapse got it get it good let's take a look number 15 Washington coffee rain and crippling debt Washington might have gorgeous mountains and a tech scene to drool over they cry about it now but layoffs at Amazon and Microsoft have left them hurting combine this with home prices flirting with 600,000 and inflation that makes a Starbucks latte feel like a financial investment and it's no wonder residents are questioning their life choices here bonus points for a budget history
that screams we peaked in 2008 now a lot of people complain about the rain and the weather of Washington state and that's why people are leaving that's why they're having such bad no that's just the Seattle area and down to Tacoma and stuff like that the rest of the state has pretty good weather the Eastern section used to be considered a great place to retire not So Much Anymore Washington is considered one of the worst states to retire and it's getting worse let's say you're living in Washington State and dreaming of a blissful retirement well
I hate to rain on your parade which if you're in the Pacific Northwest is almost every parade but you might want to rethink your plans to retire here according to wallet hub's article where not to spend your golden years Washington isn't the greatest place to retire they're actually ranked 43rd as in seventh worst state for retirement meanwhile Virginia and Florida are busy living it up at the top of that list so unless your retirement involves gray skies and scraping by maybe it's time to broaden your horizon for retirement most of the complaints about Washington though
come from the Seattle metro area where most the people live so it only makes sense and that place is crazy expensive 54 people out of 3200 felt that Washington is heading for a collapse number 14 New Mexico you know I got to tell you just from the stats and things I know about New Mexico I would have thought they'd be later on in this list like at least in the top 10 but here they are at number 14 New Mexico is enchanting but not in a good way the land of enchantment has become a land
of unemployment and underperformance New Mexico's economy relies heavily on federal spending and oil and gas but when those Industries take a hit the state feels like it got punched in the gut poverty and crime are a serious problem in New Mexico with Albuquerque making headlines for all the wrong reasons the education rankings here let's just say that whole No Child Left Behind feels more like a suggestion that everyone's ignoring but hey at least they got killer sunsets now now they're getting better but I mean back in 2021 they were considered the worst state according to
wallet Hub so here we are 4 years later and they're not the bottom of the barrel I did a video the worst states to live in probably about 9 months ago and they were ranked fifth so they're still the bottom of the barrel but they are showing Improvement back then though they were at the bottom of the barrel along with Alaska and New Jersey the land of enchantments ranking was due to its poor showing in a number of metrics it had the highest crime rate of all the states the third highest poverty rate the lowest
income growth and the smallest population under the age of 25 who have achieved a high school diploma since then they're only the fifth highest poverty rate they did better by two spots and their poverty rate they went up to fourth instead of third so that's better they still have lowest income growth they're number one at that 96 people said New Mexico was heading for a collapse number 13 Alaska the ice is melting and so is their economy Alaska the land of glaciers bears and budget cuts as oil reserves decline faster than a thermometer in January
the state's economy is feeling the freeze residents are leaving drawn by the promise of lower costs and better opportunities elsewhere sure the views are great but you really can't eat a Mountain View can you now back in the day Alaska was worth the risk I mean it is a harsh place to live but it is really dangerous but if you making good money and you were getting affordable housing it might be worth it to a lot of people well it's now terribly expensive and the the jobs are drying up so people are going why am
I risking my life to live here and I'm not just talking about the wildlife Wildlife can be a problem in a lot of parts of Alaska you got weather extreme weather there can be deadly to a lot of people and then of course they have a very high violent crime rate on top of that a lot of people are you know taking the dirt nap because of substance abuse it is one of the worst states when it comes to ODS then when you consider their health care you know their hospitals and doctors are few and
far between there's a lot of open space there where people are living and they don't have a hospital within miles and miles now as their economy starts to shrink and more and more people leave so does their tax base which this is what makes a lot of people think they're you know on the verge of a collapse 117 people voted that Alaska is near a collapse number 12 Michigan cars crime and crumbling cities now before I get into this one I have to tell you this Detroit is getting better do do they have a ways
to go yes but when you compare them to let's say 2018 2019 they are doing astronomically better Detroit may be bouncing back but Michigan as a whole really is kind of messed up it's like owning a car with one wheel missing and you're trying to drive down the road the state's economic Reliance on the Auto industry has left it vulnerable to Market shifts and high crime rates in urban areas don't exactly scream move here add to that a crumbling infrastructure and a struggling education system and Michigan's road to recovery looks like like it's full of
potholes now a lot of the people in this survey felt that some of these states have already hit rock bottom and that's why they're not you know further down the line Michigan's in bad shape you'd think it should be like number five six something like that but here they are at number 12 and I think a lot of that has to do with people thinking they've already hit rock bottom and they're working their way up 128 people said Michigan's heading for a collapse number 11 Pennsylvania the key Keystone State that's cracking Pennsylvania might be the
Keystone State but the cracks are showing the collapse of its steel and coal Industries have left the economy limping along and many of the towns feel like they're stuck in a 1980s Time Warp the population loss is rampant and while Pittsburgh is trying its best to reinvent itself as a tech Hub which they are doing pretty good the rest of the state is wondering what happened to all the jobs and don't get us started on the infrastructure Bridges collapsing is never a good look for anyone now as you know I love Pennsylvania especially Honesdale I
love Honesdale I think it's one of the best small towns in America but even they have their problems with jobs you go up to some of the rural areas and the smaller towns in Pennsylvania you will find very affordable land with houses on it so you can get an acre for a really good price downside is you better be a digital Nomad or have a retirement income coming in Philadelphia's got its problems Philadelphia is also a great City but it does have a lot of problems once you see Kensington you think the whole state is
about to collapse and that's just a neighborhood 13 seven people feel Pennsylvania is heading for a collapse number 10 Oregon the green dream is fading Oregon's gorgeous Landscapes can't distract you from its growing problems the state's housing crisis is in full swing with real estate prices soaring throwing a little homeless rate increase and you've got a dumpster fire of Epic Proportion Portland was once hailed as a quirky paradise and it's now grappling with Rising crime rates and hallowed out downtown thanks to businesses closing and higher vacancy rates of course we haven't had one yet California's
got them all but we get crippling wildfires every year and the state government seems perpetually indecisive the only good thing is their traffic isn't as bad as Los Angeles yet now we've got a new mayor here in Portland and hopefully that means things are going to change he does seem like he's changing some things when it comes to the homeless situation it's not going to be as welcoming as it once was for them in my personal opinion the last mayor we had listened to 2 many of these homeless advocacy groups when someone advises you that
you shouldn't stop people from setting up a camp in front of a business you should quit taking advice from that person that's just my opinion I could be wrong now the homeless situation downtown has gotten better since 2020 have they solved homelessness absolutely not some of them have just moved to other states and other parts of Portland downtown looks a lot better than it used to but if you go down by the train station you'll probably think I'm a liar yeah I was just down there today it's uh that's not not great down there but
most of the downtown it is looking a lot better compared again to 2020 2021 I hope I I can honestly tell you when I first moved up here 2010 downtown was a great place to go hang out a lot of great pubs the food trucks were awesome sure you had some homeless but nothing like what blew up somewhere around 2016 I mean up until about 2014 or 15 somewhere around that area Portland was constantly on the top 10 cities people are moving to list and it was great I I'm here to tell you and it
got worse you know not as bad as they made it sound on television and the different news outlets or whatever I mean go back and look at the video where Nick Johnson went around Portland OR Anton Daniels he was just here I think this weekend at least he put up the video uh yesterday I believe Saturday and he walks around I mean it's a little weird there's some strange people but it wasn't homeless people setting up full Park encampments you know not like it was before one 141 people still think Oregon is heading for a
collapse number nine New York if you can't afford it here you can't afford it anywhere actually I should change that if you could afford it here you could afford it anywhere because it is so expensive you can pull it off in New York City talking about the city now not the State state's still kind of high but the city itself if you can pull it off in New York City you can live just about anywhere in the United States but New York the Big Apple where the the cost of living is more sour than sweet
over 800,000 people left New York State last year and most of them probably didn't even leave a forwarding address they want nothing to do with the state probably just get notices that yo taxes and that's the biggest problem people have with New York State it's the taxes they're so high you'd think the word tax man is actually a villain from like a Marvel movie and he's just there to ruin everyone's day and oh it's not just the taxes their house prices are ridiculous especially in New York City it's like a jaw-dropping 820 $1,000 and if
you want to rent in New York City you're going to need six roommates or have a apartment the size of an ouse that's just New York City the whole state isn't as bad when you get to Upstate and stuff like that but it's still pretty rough and it's chasing people out of here this makes a lot of people think the whole State's about to go down the drain and right now they're probably thinking about changing the Statue of Liberty to say give me you're tired and you're poor but only if they can bring a six-figure
salary 143 people think that New York is heading for a collapse number eight California the NATO Golden State ah California once the land of dreams now the land where dreams go to get taxed and then crushed under the weight of tech layoffs over 78,000 tech jobs vaporized in 2023 alone and a $38 billion budget hole has the state living its own Great Recession cosplay unemployment is up and people are fleeing and the housing costs still make you want to live in your car if you could afford a car car there insurance rates pretty high too
on top of the typical things about California that everyone wants to complain about the Los Angeles area just got hit with some of the most devastating wildfires they've ever had I mean this thing destroyed whole neighborhoods and suburbs what sucked about the fires is the the very first day they couldn't fly most of the firefighting aircraft because of hurricane force winds just all in all a horrible event a few of the reasons people put this at number eight not number two it's probably because they understand the economics of California California makes so much money for
the US economy it's almost in that situation where it's too big to fail and on top of that a lot of the most wealthy people we have in this country live in California love it or hate it California adds so much to the US economy it basically Keeps the Lights On for a lot of southern states that have crap economies but hey at least they got nice weather right 155 people voted California's heading for a collapse number seven Kentucky bourbon and budget woses Kentucky might be famous for its bourbon but it really seems like a
state that could use a stiff drink with some of the highest poverty rates in the nation and Healthcare rankings stuck near the bottom Kentucky is struggling the coal industry that once kept this state afloat has all but disappeared leaving a giant hole in its economy then of course you have their education system yeah Kentucky's not a state that's ever really put education at the top of their to-do list some of these schools are about as underfunded as your childhood Lemonade Stand KY is the fourth most undereducated state in the Union and6 people feel they're heading
for a collapse number six Illinois Chicago blues and the state singing along Illinois where the taxes are as high as the crime rate that's saying a lot Chicago's murder rate is scary but so is their Mass Exodus of people and businesses Boeing Citadel caterpillar all packed up and left and it was probably after seeing their tax bill with over 100,000 residents bailing and more college students leaving than returning Illinois is like a house party that ended hours ago empty and sad I mean it doesn't help that they have two of the most violent cities in
the United States I mean you got Chicago and a little Northwest of there you have Rockford both surprisingly horrible places to live oh I forgot East St Louis is in Illinois as well now to be fair like I've said many times Chicago isn't as bad statistically as it sounds sure they have more murders but they got 10 times as many people is the next one on the list and most of their murders and violent crimes are in just a handful of neighborhoods the rest of the city is outstanding but those other those neighborhoods they're working
overtime to keep the crime rate up and that helps chase people out of Chicago and Illinois people just don't leave the city sometimes they get sick of a city they decide to put the whole state in rearview mirror because they think it's about to collapse matter fact 164 people out of about 3200 felt Illinois is headed for a collapse number five West Virginia Almost Heaven fully broke the Mountain State's rugged Beauty can't hide the Grim realities West Virginia ranks dead last when it comes to healthcare and third from the bottom when it comes to Poverty
the economy in this state is slower than a Sunday Drive in the appalachin young people are packing their bags faster than you can say coal country and don't even get us started on the adult literacy rate it is second from the bottom now I've talked about West Virginia many times in this channel matter of fact one of my first videos about worst towns Charleston West Virginia came up and I got a call from a local radio station wanted to chat about it that's when I realized the people in West Virginia are wonderful people they just
have a horribly Run State and they've had terrible terrible luck over the last 3 or 4 decades I mean not like they were knocking it out of the park before those three or four decades it just just got way worse opioids coal industry taking a nose dive and the state really not setting them up for success as the coal industry went down they kept hoping it's going to come back you still you'll find people in this comment section saying Cole's coming back Cole's perfect they say all that all the time the stats and the facts
aren't matching up with the reality they have going on in their head still hands down one of the most beautiful States we have but 177 people think they're heading for a full collapse I think they'd be higher on the list but most people think they've already hit rock bottom and they can't collapse anymore number four New Jersey land of high taxes and Broken Dreams New Jersey's famous for its diners beaches and the ability to repel residents between skyrocketing taxes and an unemployment rate that's Flirting With Disaster the Garden State feels more like a compost pile
losing 20,000 residents a year and watching the workforce shrink like a cherry on top of a so-called delicious Sunday I mean New Jersey is one of the most taxed states in the USA they're always like number one or two depending on which study you look at they do have some beautiful countryside have driven through it quite a few times nice small towns but when you get to their cities yeah you see some real dumpster fires there too I took a cruise out of New York City last September and I was talking to one of the
other passengers that was from Canada and he mentioned that New York City was just way too crowded and it seemed dirty and he said I went over to New Jersey thinking would be better and it wasn't I forget what he said he was looking for but he took an Uber over there and they dropped him off and he wasn't sure where whatever it was he was looking for and he asked some guy that was walking by you know where it was and he said the guy goes did I say you could ask me a question
and kept walking I told him it must been the King of New Jersey or something 181 people voted New Jersey is headed for a collapse number three Rhode Island small state big problems Rhode Island may be tiny but its issues are anything but high taxes and housing cost make it impossible for anyone without a trust fund to survive here the population is shrinking and the business scene is so unfriendly and even startups are giving them a side eye if you're a millionaire you might enjoy it if not prepare to cry over your overpriced chowder now
I'm a little surprised at this one cuz I look at these stats all the time and you know this was from people's votes people voted for this this isn't my opinion but I mean I know Rhode Island has some problems but to think that it's going to collapse before you know other places like Cali Oregon for that matter Alaska to think Rhode Island would beat those States out it kind of blows me away and if you're just looking at New England states right away you'd think Connecticut was heading to a collapse faster than Rhode Island
but as Earl Swagger once said I got crabs in Rhode Island and it wasn't the type you eat now don't get me wrong I'm not under the illusion that Rhode Island is a perfect state by any stretch of the imagination I know Providence has some crime prices really aren't friendly when it comes to house buying or real estate businesses have problems with this state all the time but I just thought there was so many other states that could have been at number three besides Rhode Island 187 people out of about 3,200 said that Rhode Island
is heading for a collapse number two Mississippi sweet tea and sour outcomes Mississippi is charming with its Southern Hospitality but charm doesn't pay the bills it's the poorest state in the country with a median household income that's barely scraping $48,000 the state also leads the country in obesity low education rankings and healthc Care failures basically a trifecta of struggle even its famous blues music really sound like a soundtrack for their economy I mean this state has been in bad shape forever they say Blues came from Mississippi well you know everyone doesn't start making a type
of music in a state that is all Rosy and wonderful this place has been in bad shape forever and it never seems like it's going to get out of that hole like I've said before I've gone to Mississippi many times I have family from there and used to hang out around Meridian and chunky Mississippi on Summers and stuff like that and what I find alarming and kind of strange is the residents think the state's doing pretty good I just want to stop them and ask them if they've been taking all their medication what's going on
your thought process is all screwed up you've lost your grasp on logic 2011 people voted that Mississippi is heading for a collapse all right before we get to number one if you haven't subscribed to this channel I'd appreciate it if you did so and don't forget to leave a comment and give the video a big thumbs up all right on to number one and number one Louisiana hurricanes poverty and empty homes yes they got a lot of all three of those and the grand prize goes to Louisiana where natural disasters and an underperforming economy have
left it reeling with nearly a quarter of the home in New Orleans unoccupied and unemployment soaring it's no wonder people are heading for Higher Ground literally and figuratively hurricanes don't help but neither do poverty and the lack of opportunity in Louisiana I mean you got to root for the state but it's not looking good they had that horrible guy driving down Bourbon Street I mean it's like doesn't this city and state have enough on their plate without idiots like that doing things one thing about Louisiana it's a pretty fun state to be in I mean
if you're just visiting it's got a lot to see a lot to do and it's a good time I just would never live there 225 people feel that Louisiana's heading for the biggest collapse of all all right that's today's video If you guys enjoyed it you probably enjoy one of the two videos being suggested right now go ahead and click one of those and enjoy that one too everybody have a great day be nice to each other
