You’ve read the Best States to Practice 

, examined the rankings and thought carefully about which business-climate and lifestyle characteristics are most important to you. Now it’s time to go a little deeper.

To help you decide where your best place to practice is, you can manipulate the chart below according to your specifications. Just click the data category header to reorder the results from highest to lowest in that category. Click the same header again to reverse the order from lowest to highest. In most cases, the lower the number, the better. Click the cost-of-living category header, for example, and see Hawaii, top the list as America’s priciest state to live in. Click that header again and find that Kentucky is the land of cheap living.

When examining medical liability premiums data, make sure you’re looking at the category that most closely resembles your own specialty.

Finally, check the data key below the chart to make sure you’re clear on what each data category means and where it comes from.

Council for Community and Economic Research

, reflects physician autonomy. Physicians per 100,000 residents: From the U.S. Census, reflects competition level.


; ranges supplied where averages vary widely by location and insurer. 


Geographic Adjustment Factor is an adjustment in Medicare pay based on cost-of-doing-business differences. Median: 1.0.

How would you select YOUR best state to practice? Our sortable table lets you change the rankings based on the factors that are most important to you.