Knowing what makes a state a great place to live isn’t an exact science. There are some elements, however, that contribute to livability, as WalletHub recently explored in a ranking of the best states to live.

To determine its rankings, WalletHub compared the 50 states across five areas: affordability; economy; education and health; quality of life; and safety. Those categories were broken down to other divisions such as housing costs, taxes, household income, unemployment, poverty, income growth, education, life expectancy, average hours worked per week, commuting times, crime rates and more.

The top 10 states to live in were:

1. Massachusetts

2. New Jersey

3. New York

4. Idaho

5. Virginia

6. New Hampshire

7. Florida

8. Wyoming

9. Minnesota

10. Wisconsin

Alabama came in at number 43 in the list, followed by Oklahoma (44), South Carolina (45), New Mexico (46), Arkansas (42), Louisiana (48), Alaska (49) and Mississippi (50).

Alabama ranked 40th for economy and quality of life but a dismal 48th for education and health. There is a bright spot, however.

Alabama ranked first in the nation for affordability, including housing costs, median annual property taxes, cost of living, median annual household income and homeownership.

Want to see how all 50 states stack up? You can go here.