09/08/2026
CNBC just ranked Texas as the second-worst state in America for quality of life, and the reaction from Texans has been pretty much what you’d expect.
The 2026 CNBC America’s Top States study evaluated all 50 states using 61 different measures, including healthcare access, crime, childcare costs, air quality, worker protections, and inclusiveness.
Texas scored just 78 out of a possible 290 points and received a straight F grade. Tennessee ranked last. Texas came in second-to-last, followed by Indiana, Louisiana, and Georgia.
Here’s what the report specifically highlighted about Texas:
① Texas has the HIGHEST uninsured rate in the entire country at 16.7%, more than twice the national average.
② More than 17% of Texas adults skipped a needed doctor visit in the past year because of cost.
③ Texas ranks DEAD LAST in primary-care physicians per capita.
④ The state has some of the weakest worker protections in the nation.
⑤ Crime rates and air-quality concerns were also identified as major factors behind the state’s low quality-of-life score.
But here’s where things get much more complicated.
Texas added more than 67,000 new residents during the most recent Census period. Its economy continues to perform strongly. There’s no state individual income tax, and Texas remains one of the national leaders in job creation.
Businesses are also relocating to Texas from places like California and New York.
By many economic measures, Texas remains one of the strongest-performing states in America.
So how can a state that continues attracting hundreds of thousands of people also receive an F for quality of life?
CNBC’s report actually points toward the answer.
Texas continues to attract workers because of its economic opportunities, but those workers can face a wide range of challenges after they arrive.
The absence of a state income tax sounds great on paper. But that advantage has to be weighed against some of the highest property taxes in the country, the nation’s highest uninsured rate, and infrastructure problems that became especially visible during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
The economic opportunity in Texas is real.
The quality-of-life problems are real, too.
And for many people moving to Texas, that tradeoff may still be worth it.
But for the 16.7% of Texans without health insurance, living just one serious medical emergency away from potentially devastating financial hardship, that F grade isn’t simply a political argument.
It’s a lived reality.
