A successful state is marked by the following characteristics except?

This  depends on what is meant by state and characteristics, so it is hard to say which ones do and do not describe characteristics of a successful state.

If you mean state as in Texas for example, the following characteristic would usually indicate success:

• Low crime rates
• Low unemployment
• Excellent exam results and college enrollment rates
• No financial debt
• Appealing to outsiders and tourists
• Low readings of air pollution

Characteristics that would not normally result in a state being classed as successful
would include:

• Crippling debts
• High rate of unemployment and business closures
• High levels of crime
• High levels of pollution and poor standard of living
• Poor exam results and high drop out rate

Although there is a national budget, most states in America have a lot of control of their own finances. This means that a lot of the blame for any debts can be placed on the people in charge of that particular state. They will also have their own policies to try and tackle major issues such as crime and unemployment.

A state can go through good times and bad so it is hard to class a state as successful as you need to first determine what time period you are looking at.