We all enjoy living in California, and rightfully so, considering California is within the top 20 of Pollster Gallup’s annual state scoring. With this, the Golden State is able to stay golden in their books as well as in ours, but like all things, there is always some room for improvement.

Each year, Pollster Gallup, a national service based on city surveys, ranks each U.S. state by its desirability and “livability”. For 2017, California dropped a spot down to No. 14. While it’s not that significant of an event, the overarching pattern does show some stipulations to California’s otherwise spotless reputation. From being No. 11 in 2015, California has been in slow decline in the race for state superiority. Scoring based on overall population healthiness, financial status, social living, and quality of life, Gallup clues Californians in on just what might need our attention within the next year or so.

Starting with our best and most glamorous tourist attraction, the overall health of California puts us up there with the best of them. The Pasadena Star News reported, “For 2017, Gallup says California’s best score came in its ‘physical’ attributes, measuring a state population’s healthiness. That’s what sun can do, I guess. California ranked 3rd in the nation in 2017 after being No. 6 in 2016 and third in 2015.”

Our worst attribute as a state is highly predictable, and I can bet that any and all college students can attest to the following ranking. With one of the highest costs of living and the most competitive job pool in the nation, California ranked particularly low when it came to the state’s financial index, “a metric of the population’s sense of economic security”.

Pasadena Star Journalist Jonathan Lansner was most surprised by the areas that California improved: community and social relationships. The former being “a score of local spirit” and the latter a “gauging of personal relationships”.

All of these markers demonstrate what we can do as a state to bring everyone to a greater sense of security and community. Economically, bringing the gap to a close might be the greatest effort needed;socially, Californians really just need a greater sense of belonging and social acceptance. Americans as a whole reported “a slip in the quality of life,” but an overall sense of prosperity.

As a community and as a school, how would we rank?