Colorado Ranks No. 5 As Most Fun State To Live In
DENVER (CBS4) - A new study is out that ranks all the states in the U.S. by how fun they are. Colorado wound up at No. 5.
WalletHub released the study this week, and it used dozens of indicators to determine "fun." Those included number of restaurants per capita, casinos, amusement parks, golf courses and country clubs, movie theaters, arcades, music festivals and fitness centers per capita. They also looked at weather conditions, access to national parks, nightlife options and costs of alcohol.
As expected, Colorado scored high on the study's "most skiing facilities per capita" metric (but likely on the low end of the "beach quality" analysis). For skiing, Vermont was No. 1 and Colorado was No. 2. Colorado also wound up No. 4 in the category measuring highest personal expenditures on recreation services.
WalletHub took legalized marijuana into account. Metropolitan State University of Denver Professor Shinyong Jung, one of the experts consulted for the study, said there's a definite "fun" factor with regards to the pot industry in Colorado and other states where it's legal.
"The cannabis industry has undoubtedly contributed to the ever-increasing number of out of state visitors," Jung said.
California and Florida came in at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. West Virginia had the lowest ranking.