Every state has its pros and cons — but which one came out on top?
US News & World Report released its annual list of the best states to live in, evaluating each in eight categories: education, healthcare, the economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, the natural environment, and crime and corrections. The categories are weighted differently based on a survey of 25,000 Americans that asked what they care most about.
US News & World Report senior data editor Evan Comen told Business Insider that since the categories aren’t evenly weighted, a state excelling in one category doesn’t guarantee a high overall ranking — and in some instances, success in one category could lead to the collapse of another.
Texas, for example, finished outside the top 25 despite ranking first in economy.
“The way we’ve structured our index, it does reflect some of these trade-offs among categories,” Comen said. “Texas is No. 1 in the economy — a lot of that economy is tied to oil and gas manufacturing. But then, Texas is No. 46 in natural environment. And our natural environment category is composed of metrics related to air and water quality and pollution.”
Though Southern states have typically performed well on lists that rank the best places to live, Florida and North Carolina were the only Sun Belt states to finish in the top 25. According to Comen, it’s not that Southern states are getting worse; rather, other states are improving.
“A decline in rankings doesn’t necessarily mean a state is performing poorly in any metric, but rather that they are being outpaced by other states,” he said. “Some states in the South might have experienced ranking decline, but it’s more because they’re being outperformed by other states, particularly the Midwest.”
One state that kept its ranking from the previous year was Utah, which finished first for the fourth consecutive year. While Utah finished 48th in the natural environment category, it had one of the most balanced rankings across categories, including the second-best economy.
Keep reading to see what each state is best at and what it needs to improve on, according to US News & World Report.
The population data comes from the US census.
50. Louisiana
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49. Alaska
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48. Mississippi
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47. New Mexico
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46. Michigan
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45. Arkansas
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44. West Virginia
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43. Alabama
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42. Ohio
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41. Kentucky
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40. Pennsylvania
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39. Oregon
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38. Nevada
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37. Illinois
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36. Oklahoma
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35. California
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34. Arizona
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33. Rhode Island
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32. South Carolina
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31. Missouri
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30. Indiana
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29. Montana
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28. Hawaii
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27. Maine
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26. Texas
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25. Tennessee
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24. Kansas
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23. New York
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22. Georgia
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21. Maryland
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20. New Jersey
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19. Virginia
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18. Connecticut
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17. Colorado
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16. Wyoming
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15. Wisconsin
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14. Delaware
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13. North Carolina
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12. Iowa
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11. Massachusetts
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10. Vermont
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9. Washington
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8. Florida
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7. Idaho
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6. New Hampshire
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5. Nebraska
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4. North Dakota
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3. Minnesota
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2. South Dakota
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1. Utah
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