When it comes to livability, the Granite State is as solid as a rock, and that's not just a passing compliment.

For the third year in a row, New Hampshire was named the nation's "Most Livable State-2006" by Lawrence, KS researcher/publisher Morgan Quitno an outfit that measures livability with 25 negative factors and 19 positive factors.

"New Hampshire enjoys the view from the top and apparently plans on staying there," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press.

"Citizens of New Hampshire enjoy low unemployment, low crime rates, high levels of household income and high levels of education. The state has a stellar record in many of the categories we considered for our award," he added.

As well as livability, New Hampshire is known for hosting the first election primary for each presidential election, granite laden bedrock (hence the "Granite State"), limited government, "leaf peeping" at fall foliage, and it is home of one of the hottest housing markets in the nation -- the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH metropolitan area.

Hot on the heels of New Hampshire were states from a variety of regional locations, Minnesota, Iowa, Vermont and, despite running jokes to the contrary, New Jersey, to round out the top five most livable states in the nation.

At the bayou of the heap, Louisiana came in as the least livable state, nudging out Mississippi from last year, but not because of devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina or her siblings.

"It should be noted that the information on which this award is based preceded the effects of Hurricane Katrina," the researcher reported.

"Our award is unique because it does not focus on any one category of data. It takes into account a broad range of economic, educational, health-oriented, public safety and environmental statistics. The Most Livable State Award tells an interesting story about life and government in the 50 United States."

Among the positive factors considered were household incomes and earnings, job growth, per capita gross state product, home ownership rates, population migration, voting percentages, climate, education levels, education related expenditures, and others.

Among negative factors considered were crime, incarceration rates, bankruptcy, pupil-teacher ratios, unemployment rates, cost-of-living factors, teenage birth rates, infant mortality rates, suicide, poverty levels, highway fatalities, and others.

By Morgan Quitno's measures, the Southern U.S. contains a swath of states where livability isn't always so easy.

After Louisiana, came Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and South Carolina. The bottom 10 least livable states included Tennessee and West Virginia.

Virginia, however, was the nation's eight most livable state as the Top Ten, just like the Top 5, represented a variety of regions in the U.S. and included Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Published: March 13, 2006

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.