Isn't there a Federal minimum wage? Don't the states have to respect it? California's is higher, but I thought everybody had to respect Federal minimum wage, at least in the US.

Weirdly enough, the Federal minimum wage applies to states that track the Federal minimum. Some states have no minimum wage and some have minimum wages different from the Federal minimum. I think it's a strange system, but there you go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_Stat...

And all of those states are in the the bottom half (I'd say third, but south carolina is a bit above that for standard of living) of states ranked by standard of living, education, and infant mortality. In fact, for infant mortality these 5 states hold the top 4 spots.