Bostonist can't really speak to the legitimacy or good repute of Morgan Quitno Press (although their name sounds a little too much like Quiznos for our taste). What we can say is that MQP is in the business of ranking cities and states (they're the folks who told us a while back that Newton was the safest city in the nation), and they have been kind to New England. Their latest state livability study just came out, and New Hampshire (#1), Vermont (#3), Massachusetts (#7), and Connecticut (#10) are all in the top ten.

The Granite State took first place, as it did last year, we imagine because it's really pretty there, they pay no income tax, and they get way too much attention in national politics. (In the past fifteen years, NH has taken top honors five times, second only to Minnesota - "The Liberal, Flat New Hampshire of the Midwest" - which spent seven consecutive years, from '97 to '03, wearing the yellow jersey.) Vermont and the Commonwealth both stayed in the same spot as last year, hangin' tough at three and seven, respectively, and Connecticut jumped four places to number ten, bumping poor South Dakota from the top tier.

So, Bay Staters, as Bostonist loves to say, be proud of your Commonwealth. We've come a long way from 1991, when we were the 24th-most-livable state, in the unpleasant company of such also-rans as California (#23 that year) and Texas (#25). And despite what some hot-headed independent candidates for governor might tell you, things don't appear to be getting worse.

Image: People ask us, "Bostonist, where do you get the ideas for your incredibly sophisticated photoshop illustrations?" All we can say is, "It ain't easy."