Best States 2024: How They Were Ranked

The Best States rankings from U.S. News & World Report show how each of the 50 U.S. states ranks in 71 metrics across eight categories. The data behind the rankings aims to show how well states serve their residents in a variety of ways.

In calculating the rankings, each of the eight categories was assigned weights based on the average of three years of data from recent national surveys that asked nearly 70,000 people total to prioritize each subject in their state.

These are the categories in the Best States framework, along with their weights and subcategories:

Equal weight was assigned to subcategories within each category, and to each metric within a subcategory.

For each of the 71 metrics across the eight categories, U.S. News collected raw values for each state to determine metric-level results, often performing calculations using the raw data. These results then were scaled relative to the average among states assessed for that metric using a z-score distribution. Outliers were capped at three standard deviations away from the mean. For metrics such as smoking rate, where increasing values reflected worsening outcomes, results were inverted so that increasing z-scores always represented improving outcomes across the analysis.

From there, U.S. News created an index score for each metric for each state. In each metric, the state that performed the best in the metric was given 100 points and the state that performed the worst was given 0 points. States between these were indexed proportionally. After translating raw data to index scores for each state in each metric, metric index scores were averaged to determine subcategory scores and rankings. Then, subcategory scores were averaged to determine category scores and rankings.

For the overall Best States rankings, U.S. News created a weighted average of the eight category rankings using the weight for each category as determined by the survey, and then ranked the outcome. We chose this method so that the overall rankings would not be skewed by large differences in scores at a metric level.

U.S. News data analyst Christopher Wolf and data editor Julia Haines performed data collection, analysis and validation leading to the final 2024 Best States rankings.

The Survey

For the weighting of the Best States rankings, U.S. News wanted to use an objective measure reflecting the priorities of citizens for their state governments. Three yearly surveys asked Americans how satisfied they were with various state government services and where they thought their state governments should focus resources. The weights for the 2024 Best States rankings are based on the average of responses from the three surveys: one conducted in the fall of 2017 that included 20,100 respondents from all 50 states; a second conducted in the winter of 2018-19 that included 23,400 respondents from all 50 states; and a third conducted in the winter of 2020-21 that included 26,300 respondents from all 50 states. Survey respondents were adults age 18 and older who collectively represented all U.S. adults. The survey results were weighted to be representative of the country's population across all ages, genders, ethnicities and household incomes. Because the results of the survey remained relatively consistent year over year, the survey was not redistributed beyond 2020-2021 and weights were kept steady for the most recent rankings.

The categories for the rankings largely aligned with the survey questions. We based the weights for the categories on a question that asked respondents to rank category issues, such as the quality of health care and education, from 1 to 8 (1 being most important) in order of what their home state's priorities should be. Respondents also were asked about their satisfaction with their state's performance in these areas, and if they felt their state was not adequately funding them. The weights for the categories were calculated from the average rank for each among the respondents.

The Data

In order to select metrics for the project, we consulted experts in each of the categories for guidance. These are the criteria we used in choosing metrics:

For each metric, we used the most recent data available that allowed for consistent nationwide comparison as of April 1, 2024. Because data sets have different schedules for updates, data comes from different years and months. Data updates are planned for each relaunch of Best States.

Please note: The Best States rankings are based upon quantitative data that can reflect the results of state policymaking, but policy enactments or varied frameworks – such as fiscal guardrails or practices for standardized student testing, for example – are generally not incorporated into measures or accounted for within the rankings.

The 71 metrics used to determine America's Best States, along with their associated categories and subcategories, follow below.

HEALTH CARE

Health Care Access

Health Care Quality

Public Health

EDUCATION

Higher Education

Pre-K-12

ECONOMY

Business Environment

Employment

Growth

INFRASTRUCTURE

Energy

Internet Access

Transportation

OPPORTUNITY

Affordability

Economic Opportunity

Equality

FISCAL STABILITY

Long-Term

Short-Term

CRIME & CORRECTIONS

Corrections Outcomes

Public Safety

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Air and Water Quality

Pollution

In some metrics, data for a state may be missing – potentially because the state did not provide data to the source, or the source conducted a survey and their reporting standards were not met for the state. In such cases, we omitted states with missing data from the calculation of subcategory scores and rankings that use those metrics.

There were no ties in the overall, category and subcategory rankings of the Best States analysis, as we calculated scores to the maximum number of decimal places without rounding. At the metric level, ties are possible.

U.S. News did not rank Washington, D.C., or U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico. Depending on the metric and data available, national figures may or may not include Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories. National figures are only reported on Best States profile pages for comparison purposes; they are not used in the scoring methodology discussed above. For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.