CNBC has ranked America’s states for quality of life, and hoo boy, is the list a doozy. Titled “These are America’s 10 worst states to live in for 2026,” the Leftmedia outlet lists its determination of the nation’s 10 “worst states.”

So, what are these supposed 10 American “hell holes”? Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

Notice a pattern? That’s right — the list of the supposedly less-than-ideal states to live in consists exclusively of Republican-run states, mostly in the South.

Why, according to CNBC, are these states the worst places to live in America? To put it bluntly, the reason is that these states don’t promote leftist cultural values.

For example, Alabama is on the list because of a lack of “Worker Protections, Health, Inclusiveness”; in other words, the state doesn’t favor unions, promote DEI and LGBTQ everywhere, and lacks mental health providers. Well, maybe there isn’t much demand for mental healthcare in the Heart of Dixie.

Interestingly, seven out of the 10 states listed were dinged for lacking “inclusiveness,” which is code for promoting the LGBTQ agenda and DEI. Healthcare and workers’ rights are also highly misleading categories because both assume significant involvement of the government in providing greater “access” to healthcare, and labor laws that promote unions and various leftist causes.

Another knock against these states is that most have fewer gun restrictions. CNBC argues that states are somehow “less safe” if they ensure their residents’ Second Amendment rights.

Access to abortion is a significant category that CNBC views as a positive, under the false premise that this benefits women. The network scored states like Texas and Oklahoma negatively for their abortion-limiting laws.

But the state deemed “America’s worst place to live in 2026” was our home state of Tennessee. Giving it an “F” grade, CNBC awarded the Volunteer State just 64 of its possible 290 points, highlighting the state’s pro-nuclear-family advocacy. The report blasts Tennessee for a “rash of state laws targeting [sic] the LGBTQ+ community, including a so-called ‘bathroom law’ requiring transgender people to use the facilities designated for their sex at birth.”

Wow, so a commonsense law enforcing people’s biological sex as the primary means to categorize their gender is a bad thing? Oh, and how terrible that Tennessee looks to protect the nuclear family.

But where are Americans moving?

It speaks volumes that many Americans don’t see the country the way CNBC does. Nine of the 10 “worst states” saw a net increase in inbound migration last year, and four of those states were among the top 10 in the nation for places Americans move to: Texas (2), Tennessee (4), Georgia (6), and Alabama (7).

Meanwhile, the states CNBC scored highly — places like California and New York — increasingly promote radical leftist ideology, bigger, more intrusive government, and ever-increasing taxes. And people are moving out of these CNBC-favored utopias in droves.

Residents are fleeing Democrat-run states that are increasingly robbing them of their individual liberty and hard-earned pay. CNBC seems to be running interference.

Meanwhile, for those of us living in these backwater red states, we’re entirely content if Democrats remain in their blue states. After all, they voted for those leftist leaders and policies. But for those conservatives who are fed up with the terrible Democrat leadership in blue states, you’re welcome to move to red America. The grass really is greener here, as many folks are finding out.