Michigan Ranks Low on Best Summer Road Trip List

With summer right around the corner, it's time to start planning those summer road trips.

And what's better than a Pure Michigan road trip, right? It turns out, lots of things are better than a Michigan road trip, because Michigan got absolutely snubbed on this list.

How WalletHub Ranked Each State

Every year, WalletHub looks at the "Best Road-Trip Destinations for Summer" and ranks each state from best to worst. They look at three main factors that make a great road trip; costs, safety, and activities. Breaking it down even further into sub categories:

average gas prices
average cost of car repairs
lowest costs for hotels and camping
road quality
traffic-related fatalities
amount of national parkland
number of parks, zoos, and gardens per capita
number of historical sites
ideal summer weather
miles of shoreline

After looking at all that goes into a good summer road trip, WalletHub crunched the numbers and ranked each state from best to worst. The state that came in at No. 1 is Minnesota, with its highest score coming from the safety category.

Where Michigan Landed on the List

As for Michigan, it didn't do as well as I thought it would. Michigan came in at No. 17!

With the Great Lakes, Tahquamenon Falls, Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, Sleeping Bear Dunes, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Torch Lake, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, Pictured Rocks, Isle Royale National Park, over 3,000 miles of shoreline, and an abundance of fudge... what's not to love about a Michigan road trip.

Michigan scored the best in the costs category, ranking 17th. Michigan only ranked 27th in safety and activities. The Mitten State probably got dinged pretty bad because of our roads. Or maybe people are mad that cars aren't allowed on Mackinac Island?

Despite the "official" ranking, I think Michigan is the best state to take a summer road trip in... but I might be biased.

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WalletHub.com did a deep dive into what makes a city a food fan destination. For a full look at the methodology, scroll to the bottom. Here are WalletHub's Top 182 Cities in the United States for Foodies based on affordability (1-182); diversity, accessibility, and quality of food(1-182); and assigned each city a score based on these and other variables.

Gallery Credit: Scott Clow

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Gallery Credit: Google

Epic Road Trips Within Two Hours of Lansing

Taking long road trips will be expensive this summer with gas prices as high as they are. Check out these fun road trips that are within a two-hour drive from Lansing.