While the economy is generally in bad shape, some states have been particularly hard hit.  If you're considering relocating, you want to make sure you don't simply trade one bad set of employment conditions for another. Also, what about other factors that will affect your standard of living, such as income levels, cost of living, and state tax rates?

MoneyRates.com has done a comprehensive analysis that takes into account the following factors that affect your ability to make a living:

• Average state wages
• State unemployment rate
• State tax rate
• State cost of living

Based on these factors, MoneyRates.com calculated an adjusted-average income for each state and ranked states against each other.

Here is the resulting list of the worst ten states for making a living….

1. Hawaii

No wonder there's so much crime on Hawaii Five-0! This is undoubtedly a great place to live for many reasons, but it is a tough place for making a living. An extremely high cost of living, coupled with a fairly high tax rate, give Hawaii the lowest adjusted-average income at $22,107.96. With this adjusted average income, Hawaii residents don’t have much to put into their savings accounts.

2. Maine

A combination of relatively low wages and an above-average cost of living give Maine the second-worst adjusted-average income, at $29,159.19.

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