In life there is perception and there is reality.

This story is all about the former while greatly ignoring the latter.

A recent survey conducted by the home improvement website asked people where they would most likely and least likely want to move to in the United States.

Not surprisingly, South Dakota didn't fare too well.

The Mount Rushmore State came in tied for ninth on the least desirable list, alongside Missouri, with a nearly two-thirds (64.1%) negative reaction.


1. (tied) Mississippi/Arkansas (67.5%)
3. Alabama (65.9%)
4. Nebraska (65.5%)
5. (tied) North Dakota/Iowa (64.9%)
7. Kansas (64.7%)
8. Oklahoma (64.5%)
9. (tied) South Dakota/Missouri (64.1%)

A few things to consider...

The survey was taken by just 557 people. To say that's a small sample size is quite the understatement.

The other curious thing: with all of the shade being thrown South Dakota's way, I wonder how many people have actually set foot here or could even find the state on a map? It's pretty easy to pick on a place based on what you think is there rather than what's actually there.

The cold, hard reality is snarky attitudes aside, people are actually moving to South Dakota in pretty big numbers. The latest figures show the state as the 15th highest rate of growth since 2010, with the overall population up more than nine percent.

On the other end of the spectrum, the desirable states list is much closer to reality.

Top-ranked Colorado has seen its' population increase more than 14 percent since 2010. That's the fifth-highest among all 50 states.


1. Colorado (55.6%)
2. Hawaii (50.9%)
3. California (49.5%)
4. Florida (45.2%)
5. North Carolina (43.0%)
6. Washington (41.5%)
7. New York (40.3%)
8. Texas (38.5%)
9. (tied) South Carolina, Georgia, Oregon (35.2%)

One notable exception from the list is Utah (+16.08%), which trails only Washington DC (+17.6) in population growth since 2010.