Gimmie that sweet SALT deduction back.

(It's not actually that high on my list.)

I'd much rather be poor in California than poor in mississippi

You say that, but being poor where everyone else is poor is generally better than being poor where you are surrounded by wealth.

So people are better off being poor in South America or North Africa, than being poor in the US or Europe?

Yep. As someone who moved to California I honestly can’t imagine living anywhere else. This state has so much good social programming and tries to do good for its people. It also helps that most Californians are awesome people.

I’ve been in TX (hard nope), NY, NJ, VA, DC, OH, WA, OR, and MD.

I would honestly never move out of California there’s no better place I can think of.

how would you rank the states you have lived in by those metrics(social programming + doing good for the people)?

Only CA and WA stand out. The rest are awful. TX doesn’t even make the list.