Table excludes Alaska due to its unique profile
Fin.Score is measure of state financial health including budget deficits, unfunded pension liabilities etc. from Mercatus: https://www.mercatus.org/statefiscalrankings Strong state health is indicated by positive scores and vice-versa: For comparison, Puerto Rico’s score is -3.18
State.Tax includes income, sales and property taxes from: http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-2016
Age.Rank is state ranking based on average age of state population from youngest (=1) to oldest (=49)
Migration.5yr is state ranking based on net migration to state from 2011-2015 ACS data; Rank of 1 means most positive migration to state as percentage of state population
Home.Apprec.5yr is state ranking based on 5 year (period ending Q3, 2016) home price appreciation (1 is state with most appreciation) from BEA: https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Tools/Pages/House-Price-Index-(HPI).aspx
Young.Educ.Migr.5yr is state ranking based on net migration to state of 20 to 34 year olds with a college degree or higher from 2011-2015 ACS data; Rank of 1 means state has the most young, educated migrating to state as percentage of state population
GDPxMin.5yr is state ranking based on state GDP growth excluding “Mining” (which includes Oil & Gas) from 2010-2014; Rank of 1 means state has most GDP growth of 49 states. Data from BEA: https://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1&acrdn=2#reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1
Migration.10yr is state ranking based on net migration to state from 2006-2015 ACS data; Rank of 1 means state has most positive migration to state as percentage of state population
Young.Educ.Migr.10yr is state ranking based on net migration to state of 20 to 34 year olds with a college degree or higher from 2006-2015 ACS data; Rank of 1 means most young, educated migrating to state as percentage of state population
GDPxMin.10yr is state ranking based on state GDP growth excluding “Mining” (which includes Oil & Gas) from 2005-2014; Rank of 1 means most GDP growth. Data from BEA: https://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1&acrdn=2#reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1
Pct.Chg.IRS.Returns.5yr is state ranking based on the percent change in number of individual IRS returns filed from 2010 - 2015; Rank of 1 means state has greatest percent increase in number of returns. Data from: https://www.irs.gov/uac/soi-tax-stats-state-data-by-year
Pct.Chg.IRS.Collect.5yr is state ranking based on the percent change in gross dollars collected from individual IRS returns filed from 2010 - 2015; Rank of 1 means state has greatest percent increase in gross collections. Data from: https://www.irs.gov/uac/soi-tax-stats-state-data-by-year