Which State has the most pride?

[Mott the Hoople]

Ive lived in Florida, Alabama, Wyoming, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

They all had great advantages and disadvantages. I would say Alabama and Virginia were low on the list while Wyoming and Florida are on the top.

But to try to compare the advantages of Wyoming to those of Washington, D.C. is like trying to find out if a fish prefers to sing opera or ride a bicycle.

I've lived in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and South Carolina. I've travelled and have spent significant time in Maryland, West Virginia, Western New York State, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kentucky, Northern Mississippi, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Georgia, Florida and Michigan for work related reasons.

They all have their plus and minuses. Culture has as much to do with geography in terms of how congenial a place is to live and different locations in a State can be very different in terms of quality of life.

For example, Northern Virginia is a very modern, cosmopolitan and picturesque place to live. I'd recommend it to anyone where as western Virginia is a cultural backwater. Same with Ohio. Central and Northeastern Ohio are very congenial places to live excepting the occasional harsh winters where as western rural Ohio is about as boring as it gets and in some places almost as backwards as many Southern States. Eastern Arkansas is one of the biggest shitholes in the entire nation to have to live in with a standard of living and world view that is practically third world. That culture doesn't change much as you travel west in Arkansas but once you get out of the Mississippi delta it's God country in the Ozarks. Florida is great if you live by the coast. It gets hot for sure but with breezes coming from the ocean and the incredible cultural diversity and can be a great place to live. Get away from the coast and Florida is a miserably hot and ugly hell hole of scrub land and swamps with an incredibly backward redneck culture. You couldn't pay me enough to live in central Florida. Comparing East Texas to West Texas and Houston to Austin is like comparing the moon to earth.

As I've said before, home is where you hang your hat. If you're happy with where you live, then it's a great place to live.

Now to do some bragging, where I live doesn't get a lot of press...and I hope it stays that way...but Delaware, County Ohio is rated #5 best county in the US to raise a family by Forbes. It's got a lot going on for it here and I enjoy living here very much. I don't give a lot of thought (except maybe during the winter) to retiring elsewhere when the time comes cause life here is so congenial.