- Mark Dolliver

NEW YORK Despite all its troubles, fiscal and otherwise, California retains its allure for people who live elsewhere in the U.S. In a Harris Poll that asked people to say which state they'd choose to inhabit, other than the one they live in now, California topped the voting -- just as in the previous five of these nearly annual surveys.

Florida came in second, as it did in the most recent Harris sounding on the topic in 2007. Filling out the top five were Hawaii (No. 3 in 2007 as well), Texas (up from No. 6) and Colorado (No. 5 in 2007, too.) The rest of the top 10: Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Tennessee and Oregon. Falling out of the top 10 since 2007 were New York and Virginia.

Indicating continued strength as a destination for retirees, Florida was the top vote-getter among respondents 64 and older, with Hawaii, California, Oregon and North Carolina completing that age cohort's top five. On the opposite end of the age spectrum, 18-32-year-olds gave the greatest number of their votes to California.

Florida was their runner-up, followed by Texas, Washington and Hawaii. The poll's 33-44-year-olds gave top honors to Florida, followed by California, Texas, Arizona and Hawaii. And for the 45-63-year-olds, California was the leading vote-getter, trailed by Florida, Hawaii, Colorado and North Carolina.

There was little gender gap in the poll's findings, with men and women including the same states among their top five. But California was No. 1 among male respondents while Florida won that ranking among their female counterparts.

The same survey asked people to pick the city in or near which they'd like to live (excluding the metro in which they now live or are closest). New York City came out on top, as it has throughout this decade. Denver jumped from No. 9 in the 2007 poll to a tie for second place, which it shared with San Francisco (up from No. 4 in 2007). San Diego slipped slightly from No. 2 in 2007 to No. 4 this time, while Seattle dipped from No. 3 then to No. 5 now. Also in the top 10 in the new poll were Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Washington and Dallas. Orlando (now No. 14) and Los Angeles (No. 15) tumbled out of the top 10 since 2007.