CHARLOTTE -- A new ranking places North Carolina among the worst states to live in the country.
The Delaware-based financial news and opinion e-company, 24/7 Wall St., ranked North Carolina at 37 and South Carolina at 41 out of the 50 states based on unemployment, poverty and life expectancy.
The ranking said that North Carolina's median household income of $47,830 a year is nearly $8,000 lower than the median income nationwide.
"Also, 16.4% of people in (North Carolina) live in poverty, a greater share than the 14.7% of Americans who live at or below the poverty line," the report said.
Despite these issues, the Tar Heel state actually had one of the highest rates of population growth at 19.4 percent - the sixth highest.
"Few states have grown as rapidly as North Carolina in the last 10 years," the report said.
Overall, North Carolina ranked between Ohio as the 36th worst state and Nevada at 38th while South Carolina ranked as the 10th worst state to live in.
The ranking said that South Carolina's poverty rate was the 11th highest at 16.6%.
Another contributing factor the report seemingly weighed heavily on was the average violent crime rates.
"Over 500 violent crimes were committed per 100,000 state residents last year, significantly higher than the national violent crime rate of 373 incidents per 100,000 Americans," the report said.
South Carolina also had a low life expectancy rate at birth, according to the report. The life expectancy at birth was at 76.5 years, the 9th lowest.
The state ranked between New Mexico as the 42 worst state and Georgia at 40.
