If it's livability you want, go to Minnesota. For a safe city home, buy a home in Newton, MA. The healthiest state, New Hampshire is good for what ails you.

So says Morgan Quitno Press in its 2000 rankings for livability, crime and health.

Founded in 1989, Lawrence, KS-based Morgan Quinto Press is an independent private research and publishing company specializing in comparing states and cities in a variety of subject areas based on numerous factors.

"State Rankings," "Health Care State Rankings," "Crime State Rankings," and "City Crime Rankings" are its primary publications, but it also offers more than 150 other state-specific research tomes that come in handy if you are relocating -- or just concerned about where you live.

The rankings, its rating system and methodology are all available on its Web site. You'll have to buy the details.

So how does the publisher's home state stack up?

Kansas is the No. 6 most livable state, but in previous years rated as low as No. 11 and high as No. 2. Middle of the road when it comes to crime, the state ranked 24 this year, 23 last year, but at No. 11 in the health care ranking, it is nevertheless a relatively healthy place to live.

The city of Lawrence wasn't included in the city crime rankings because even when the University of Kansas is in session, the town peaks out at only about 70,000 people.

Livability

Considering 43 factors (24 positive and 19 negative), Morgan Quitno ranked Minnesota as the place you want to be for the best overall livability. The state has held that post for four consecutive years.

"The state has a very well educated, healthy and involved population. It has one of the nation’s highest school graduation rates, a very low percentage of persons not covered by health insurance and high voter participation. This record of excellence across-the-board gives Minnesota an edge that is simply hard to beat," said Scott Morgan, President of Morgan Quitno Press.

Following Minnesota's lead were Iowa, Colorado, Utah, New Hampshire, Kansas, Wisconsin, Virginia, Nebraska and Massachusetts to round out the Top 10 most livable states.

At the opposite end, was Mississippi, which was also No. 50 in 1999's livability contest.

Ahead of Mississippi, among the least livable states were, West Virginia, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Arkansas, South Carolina, Hawaii, Alabama and Alaska.

Health

When Morgan Quitno looked at infant mortality rates, health insurance coverage rates, per capita health care expenditures, access to primary medical care, childhood immunization rates, adult smoking rates and other health factors, New Hampshire took the No. 1 spot and Mississippi again was No. 50.

"New Hampshire does well in a number of reproductive health areas, has good access to primary care physicians and a high level of health care insurance coverage. Mississippi, on the other hand, struggles with a number of health problems, including high infant mortality rates, a high percentage of births to teenage mothers and a high sexually transmitted disease rate," Morgan said.

Other New England states fared well, health wise. Following New Hampshire as the nation's healthiest states were Vermont, Minnesota, Hawaii, Utah, Maine, Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nebraska. Along with Mississippi at the other end of the list were, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Nevada, Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, New York and Texas.

Beginning to see the trend?

Crime

When Morgan Quitno took a look at murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary and theft, many of the same states at the top and bottom in the livability and health rankings were similarly ranked for crime.

"Without a doubt, New Mexico struggles with crime," said Morgan. "It has the nation's highest violent crime rate, highest aggravated assault rate and highest burglary rate. In contrast, North Dakota has the lowest violent crime rate, lowest murder rate and the lowest aggravated assault rate."

After New Mexico, at the top of the list of the Most Dangerous States were Florida, Nevada, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Illinois and Michigan. The 10 safest states were North Dakota, New Hampshire, Maine, South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, West Virginia, Wyoming, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The site also reviews how each state ranked for each crime studied on the publisher's state ranking-by-crime page.

Low ranking states in other categories also yield high-crime cities. Higher ranked states have safer cities, according to Morgan Quitno.

The nation's 10 Most Dangerous Cities with populations of 75,000 or more were Detroit, Atlanta, Camden, Baltimore, St. Louis, Gary, Flint, West Palm Beach, Miami and New Orleans.

Among the 315 cities examined for crime, the ten safest were Newton, MA; Amherst, NY; Mission Viejo, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA; Greece, NY; Orem, UT; Lake Forest, CA; Cary, NC; Colonie Town, N.Y. and Simi Valley, CA.