In your opinion what is the most underrated state in the US?

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

Ihatejoe wrote:

Idaho is devoid of liberals and is beautiful!

Its also has the largest concentration of klu klux Klan members in the US. You must love it.

Something tells me you are not a Dr.

Occam wrote:

I'm always surprised more people don't flock to Wyoming (especially conservatives) plus a solid national park. I lived there for a year.

So underrated that people who live there a year don't realize 2 amazing national parks are in WY.

Little Rhody is indeed little but very concentrated and has pretty much everything you'd want expect mountains. Great beaches, sailing, and Newport. Colonial towns. The country's best donuts. Fabulous Italian cuisine in Providence

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Occam wrote:

I'm always surprised more people don't flock to Wyoming (especially conservatives) No state income tax, low population i.e. not crowded. They have a lot of outdoor activities plus a solid national park. it's slightly underrated in my opinion. I'm not saying it's great but probably a bit better than people think. I lived there for a year.

I would never overate where I live. Iowa is a s-thole.

This ^

Colorado to one side, Idaho to the other. And no state income tax. It's insane this isn't a conservative dream destination.

I'd be for all conservatives going there.

Wyoming is garbage. The Tetons and Yellowstone area are nice but outside of that is barren wasteland with just rocks, grassland , wind and dumb people. (very little trees ), I've seen more confederate flags in WY then parts of the south.

Plus they are slaves to the oil industry. I've seen billboards complaining about windmills (which actually look cool) ruining the view but there are tons of fracking and other oil rigs that are the actual blight.

Ihatejoe wrote:

Idaho is devoid of liberals and is beautiful!

Very high suicide rate there.

Wuzzle Wuzzle wrote:

Wyoming is garbage. The Tetons and Yellowstone area are nice but outside of that is barren wasteland with just rocks, grassland , wind and dumb people. (very little trees ), I've seen more confederate flags in WY then parts of the south.

Plus they are slaves to the oil industry. I've seen billboards complaining about windmills (which actually look cool) ruining the view but there are tons of fracking and other oil rigs that are the actual blight.

I agree with this.

Harambe wrote:

Probably California or Hawaii.

The level of natural beauty in both is understated all the time.

uhh..what? They're both extremely popular states and I'm pretty sure most people are aware of the stunning beauty in each of them.

I would classify neither one as "underrated" lol

I agree generally that SC is underrated, but I actually don't like Hilton Head at all. I found the beaches there boring, and the whole town is just golf-centered, so if you're not a golfer, then there's some lost appeal. Also, I was on vacation in Hilton Head for 9/11, so I do have that biased bad association. I don't plan to ever go back there.

MplsRunnerDude wrote:

others have already followed this line of thinking but i will go with arkansas. probably one of the lowest rated states, so it would be hard for it NOT to be underrated unless it is truly a hellhole. depending on where exactly you go in the state, i'm sure you can find some nice stuff. apparently they grow a lot of rice there, so that's cool. also i've heard parts of the ozarks are nice. and low cost of living to boot.

disclaimer: i've never been to arkansas. also, the whole "ratings" concept is pretty useless in general. but yet here we are.

Rice in Arkansas (and Louisiana and Texas for that matter) has more arsenic than Californian rice. So I try to avoid it.

An interesting place in Arkansas I would recommend is a small town called Washington in southwest. It's a short drive from Hope, where the 42nd POTUS is from.

concerned dad here wrote:

Harambe wrote:

Probably California or Hawaii.

The level of natural beauty in both is understated all the time.

uhh..what? They're both extremely popular states and I'm pretty sure most people are aware of the stunning beauty in each of them.

I would classify neither one as "underrated" lol

I have never been to Hawaii, so I can't comment on that, but I do get what he's saying about California. As well-known as California is for amazing coastlines and national parks, if you've not been, then you just don't understand how great it is. Today it is hip to rip on California, and because of that many have this idea that it's just homeless people everywhere, wildfires, mudslides, etc. Yes the state has issues, but it is still underrated. Yosemite is insane. The redwood forests are insane. Big Sur, and many other parts of the coastline...insane.

ForFusion wrote:

None of you know what the word “underrated” means. Tennessee is not an underrated state. There are really only a handful of states that fit that criteria. The obvious one that was mentioned earlier is Wyoming. Only Midwest state I could think of would be Indiana. Obviously not the most scenic place, but you have a very nice downtown, 2 professional sports teams, great universities, an awesome airport, and the suburbs around the city are some of the best in the whole United States. Pretty strong running community and a great place for young adults to live/work right out of college.

I agree with you. In my first post I said as much. You need criteria. How are you defining "underrated" here?

I'll put in a vote for New Jersey.

The industrial/urban area around NYC isn't that nice (well, Hoboken is pretty cool, I guess), but outside of that it's a really nice state. And I swear, I'm not from there.

Great beaches, rural areas, farm country in the south, even some hills/small mountains. It's much better than it's reputation.

Three suggestions (all considering how I think these states are ‘rated’ by most people):

North Carolina - There’s actually a lot going on there from beach to mountains to research triangle, and I think it’s not rated highly.

Pennsylvania - Probably already rated highly, but perhaps not high enough.

West Virginia - Probably rated very poorly. So much so that it’s probably underrated.

Most overrated: Maryland, Florida

Neta wrote:

Maryland. Mountains to the west, beaches to the east. If there weren't high taxes and a Baltimore there, it would rank higher than it does.

As a NOVA person I always just thought of Maryland as basically another NOVA county, but with something kind of off about it.

Sometimes for the bad, I don’t like much of our sprawl but I really don’t like places like Burtonsville or some of your other villes.

Y’all do have pretty beaches though, and I’d say Baltimore is actually kind of a plus - the aquarium, Camden yards and some mountains. But your mountain’s aren’t as nice as ours or some other Appalachian states.

Typo, I have never been to a mountain in Baltimore

WV is beautiful, but most people on here wouldn't appreciate the coal dust and ridiculous respiratory illness rates. Same goes for a good chunk of PA too. NC is definitely a growing state, and worth investing in.

My votes, having only been to some states.

WI (I live here) is really nice, unlike other Midwest states. As a coastie I lumped them all together

WV, mostly depressing and methy, but some pockets of hippy-dippy. Beautiful like highly rated states like NC, Tenn

AR, I drove down the Midwest in a megabus once and noticed Arkansas was the first scenic place since crossing into IL

SC - something about the pines - always feel kind of close to the beach. Charleston is awesome

Is anywhere out west really rated that low? I think I read NM is poor but I’d love to go there and I know they have las alamos and some other physics stuff. So even if you aren’t smart yourself, you could drink at a bar with real geniuses.

Los* alamos