Correlation Coefficient
Near-perfect positive correlation
Average Rank: HIGH vs LOW
23rd percentile vs 76th percentile
Incarceration Rate Ratio
HIGH states imprison 3.07x more people
Oklahoma: Rank 44.6 of 50
Oklahoma ranks 44.6 on average across all quality-of-life dimensions — worse than 88% of states.
Compared to New Hampshire
Oklahoma incarcerates 3.25x more people per capita than New Hampshire, yet ranks 39 positions worse on average across every quality-of-life metric. New Hampshire ranks #1 in economic opportunity, #1 in child wellbeing, and #1 in lowest poverty — Oklahoma ranks #47, #48, and #43 respectively.
Key Differences by Dimension
Average ranking position: HIGH-incarceration group vs LOW-incarceration group. Lower rank = better outcome.
Healthcare (gap: 33.7 positions)
Education Spending (gap: 31.9 positions)
Life Expectancy (gap: 31.9 positions)
Economic Opportunity (gap: 30.5 positions)
Child Wellbeing (gap: 30 positions)
Poverty (gap: 28.8 positions)
Education Quality (gap: 28.5 positions)
Income (gap: 26.4 positions)
Best States Overall (gap: 20.9 positions)
Infrastructure (gap: 3.2 positions)
Full 20-State Comparison
Click any column header to sort. Rankings: 1 = best, 50/51 = worst. Color coding: green (top 10), amber (31-40), red (41+).
| StateState | GroupGroup | Incarceration RateInc. Rate | Ed. SpendingEd$ | Ed. QualityEdQ | HealthcareHC | Life Expect.Life | PovertyPov | IncomeInc | Econ. OpportunityEcon | Child WellbeingKids | InfrastructureInfra | Best StatesBest | Avg. RankAvg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | HIGH | 1067 | 30 | 37 | 41 | 48 | 50 | 48 | 50 | 48 | 48 | 50 | 45 |
| Mississippi | HIGH | 1020 | 43 | 48 | 51 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 48 | 49 | 47 | 48 | 48.3 |
| Arkansas | HIGH | 912 | 40 | 41 | 48 | 44 | 47 | 47 | 41 | 45 | 41 | 44 | 43.8 |
| Oklahoma | HIGH | 905 | 47 | 50 | 49 | 46 | 43 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 29 | 42 | 44.6 |
| Alabama | HIGH | 898 | 39 | 47 | 42 | 47 | 45 | 44 | 44 | 39 | 33 | 45 | 42.5 |
| Kentucky | HIGH | 889 | 34 | 33 | 37 | 49 | 48 | 46 | 39 | 38 | 24 | 39 | 38.7 |
| Georgia | HIGH | 887 | 35 | 28 | 45 | 36 | 37 | 23 | 40 | 37 | 13 | 21 | 31.5 |
| Tennessee | HIGH | 817 | 44 | 36 | 44 | 46 | 23 | 40 | 42 | 36 | 23 | 32 | 36.6 |
| South Dakota | HIGH | 812 | 42 | 20 | 32 | 25 | 7 | 29 | 16 | 21 | 2 | 8 | 20.2 |
| Texas | HIGH | 751 | 46 | 30 | 50 | 27 | 38 | 24 | 38 | 43 | 18 | 29 | 34.3 |
| Utah | LOW | 396 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 9 | 18 | 12 | 22 | 11 | 20 | 15.2 |
| Connecticut | LOW | 326 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 27 | 15 | 10.5 |
| Minnesota | LOW | 323 | 19 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 9.3 |
| New York | LOW | 317 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 34 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 34 | 22 | 16.7 |
| New Hampshire | LOW | 278 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 2 | 5.6 |
| Maine | LOW | 272 | 14 | 24 | 21 | 31 | 10 | 30 | 19 | 15 | 40 | 27 | 23.1 |
| New Jersey | LOW | 270 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 7.6 |
| Rhode Island | LOW | 254 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 45 | 24 | 15.4 |
| Vermont | LOW | 245 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 8.5 |
| Massachusetts | LOW | 241 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 9 | 7.8 |
Methodology
This analysis compares the 10 states with the highest per-capita incarceration rates against the 10 states with the lowest rates, using 2023-2024 data from authoritative public sources. Each state is ranked across 10 quality-of-life dimensions: education spending, education quality, healthcare, life expectancy, poverty, income, economic opportunity, child wellbeing, infrastructure, and overall best-states ranking.
Statistical Finding
A near-perfect positive correlation exists between state incarceration rates and poor quality-of-life outcomes. 90.6% of the variance in quality-of-life rankings is explained by incarceration rate alone. The effect size (Cohen's d = 4.90) is classified as "extremely large" — far exceeding the 0.8 threshold for a large effect.
0.952
Pearson r
90.6%
Variance Explained
< 0.001
p-value
4.9
Cohen’s d
Data cross-verified across multiple research platforms and primary sources including Prison Policy Initiative, U.S. News & World Report, Education Week, America’s Health Rankings, U.S. Census Bureau ACS, Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT, and ASCE Infrastructure Report Card. Correlation is not causation — these findings demonstrate association, not a causal mechanism.