California repeats as ‘Worst Run State’ while North Dakota is the best

Every year, 24/7 Wall St. conducts an extensive survey of all fifty states in America. Based on a review of data on financial health, standard of living and government services by state we determine how well each state is managed. For the first time, North Dakota is the best run. California is the worst run for the second year in a row.

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The Peace Garden State earned the top spot with an oil boom has transformed the state’s economy. Last year, crude-oil production rose 35%. As of this August, North Dakota was the second-largest oil producer in the country, due to the use of hydraulic fracturing in the state’s Bakken shale formation.

As a result North Dakota has the U.S.’s lowest unemployment rate in 2011 at 3.5%, and that same year North Dakota’s GDP jumped 7.6%, by far the biggest such increase. This growth has also lifted home values: They rose a nation-leading 29% between 2006 and 2011. North Dakota and Montana are the only two states that have not reported a budget shortfall since fiscal 2009.

Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah and Iowa round out the top five (from 2-5).

California’s high levels of debt, the state’s S&P credit rating is the worst of all states, its Moody’s credit rating is the second-worst and the unemployment also the second worst in the country. Home prices plunged by 33.6% between 2006 and 2011, worse than all states except for three. The state’s foreclosure rate is third worst and the citizens have the worst tax burden of any state.

Rounding out the bottom five (from 49-46) are Rhode Island, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey.

Check out more on the study here