The best and worst states. TN @ # 12 best.

[Guest Mad4rcn]

12. Tennessee
> Debt per capita: $922 (the lowest)
> Budget deficit: 9.4% (tied-35th largest)
> Unemployment: 9.2% (tied-16th highest)
> Median household income: $41,693 (6th lowest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 18.3% (11th highest)

Tennessee has a record of strong fiscal responsibility. For fiscal 2010, the state owed just $922 per capita, less than every other state in the nation. Additionally, 90% of the state’s pension obligations are funded, one of the highest-funded ratios in the U.S. As of 2010, Tennessee had one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation, at just 7.7% of per capita income, well below the U.S. average rate of 9.9%. However, in many ways the state still lags behind the rest of the nation. Last year, just 84.2% of residents 25 and older were high school graduates, while 18.3% of the population lived below the poverty line — both among the worst rates in the nation. Worse yet, in 2011 Tennessee had the nation’s highest violent crime rate, at 608.2 violent crimes per 100,000 people. Crime was even worse in Memphis, which had the nation’s sixth-highest violent crime rate among large U.S. cities.

 

Read more: The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50 - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/11/27/the-best-and-worst-run-states-in-america-a-survey-of-all-50/#ixzz2G4lZqeDk

[Guest drv2fst]

I wonder how tn fairs on crime stats if you exclude memphis

[RED333]

TN aint a bad place to live, that is why I stayed more than 30 years ago.

[Pat]

I wonder how tn fairs on crime stats if you exclude memphis

I'm with you on that...

[Dustbuster]

interesting stats.remember where they come from.Our old chief in nashville used to call home invasions burglaries,even when a homicide occurred,and would report this to the "system" as a burglary to minimize the severity of it.Stats can be very misleading.We have our fair share of thugs.They do go down,get locked up and more.At least in TN everyone can fight back and we dont have to rely on an idiot like bloomberg who will swear his police will find out "who did this". I love living here,TN is an awesome state.We have people who really care and attempt to maintain real traditional values, along with saying grace and maam and i love my 1911.we live here,other states one can barely survive due to bureaucratic bs.

amazingly enough people flock here from other states as companies moving here get tax breaks,and IMPORT their out of state employees leaving floor sweeping jobs for locals.Thats the hidden statistic..the crime rate dropped in maury co once the saturn plant closed,why? some of the heathens went back to michigan.....wheres that stat....Our schools need money but the lottery funds allow foreign students to attend vanderbilt for free.Our kids that do  graduate have to fight to get the jobs the california companies bring in for their imported workers. i could go on and on but i take stats w a grain of salt as its about how they got em and who contributed.Ask any metro cop about stat reports....guarantee youll get a headshake and a smile or laugh

[Guest msparks]

Sure beats where I came from OHIO, the place responsible for the second term. Plus they have a ton of snow right now.

 

Thus far I've planted my roots deep here! Got some land, and if it all goes down hill this is where they will bury me, I even have a cemetery on our place.

[Jonnin]

one year of GA income taxes sold me on moving across the line.  

 

They should score it by cost of living ratio against income, if they did not (I didnt look).   Typically our high number of people in "poverty" are below the national line not the TN line --- you can live very cheap here, where the same money would be your death in LA or NYC or something.

[Hershmeister]

TN is #1 in my book Been here since 1991 and loving every minute

[LI0NSFAN]

I like that there is no state income tax. I would rather pay extra sales tax, that way all the illegal income people get taxed even if it is a little. I sat we go to a flat sales tax nationwide of 12% and get rid of income tax. then no need for as much money going to pay to run the IRS. I bet we would the the debt go down.