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People struggle with mental health every day, but location can matter in terms of treatment options and other mental health services.
A recent study from Soliant analyzed the best and worst states for mental health by evaluating data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The study scored each state by measuring factors that impact mental health including unemployment rate, participation in physical activity, disconnected youth rate, access to healthy foods and the frequency of "poor mental health days" reported by the population.
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The best state for mental health is North Dakota, which has a low unemployment rate of 2.4%, and reported 78.5% of the population participating in physical activity in the past month. The state also has the lowest level of teenagers and young adults who are not working nor in school, at around 5%.
The worst state for mental health is West Virginia, which has the highest average number of mentally unhealthy days reported by residents in the past 30 days, at 6.6 days. The state also has a low physical activity participation rate at 68% and ties for the second-highest disconnected youth rate in the nation at 14%.
Read more about the best and worst states for mental health.
Best states for mental health
| Rank | State | Score |
| 10 | Minnesota | 68.2 |
| 9 | Utah | 68.4 |
| 8 | Iowa | 69.3 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 70.2 |
| 6 | Maryland | 71.3 |
| 5 | Hawaii | 72.8 |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 77.2 |
| 3 | Nebraska | 78 |
| 2 | Vermont | 80.8 |
| 1 | North Dakota | 82 |
Worst states for mental health
| Rank | State | Score |
| 50 | West Virginia | 21.9 |
| 49 | Louisiana | 23.1 |
| 48 | Arkansas | 26.6 |
| 47 | Nevada | 26.7 |
| 46 | Mississippi | 31.5 |
| 45 | New Mexico | 31.9 |
| 44 | Kentucky | 34.8 |
| 43 | South Carolina | 38.5 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | 39.7 |
| 41 | Texas | 39.9 |
