California Soars 12 Spots In State Rankings: U.S. News

CALIFORNIA — Washington is the No.1 state in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s third annual best states rankings. California came in at No. 19 on U.S. News’ list which is not very impressive until you notice that we climbed 12 spots over last year's number.

Curiously, U.S. News ranks California's economy as 4th best. However, according to Forbes, "If it were a country, California’s $2.9 trillion economy would be the fifth biggest in the world, ranked between Germany and the United Kingdom. The state represents 14% of the U.S. economy."

But U.S. News says Washington’s economy is “booming” thanks to companies like Amazon and Microsoft that are based in the state. Washington also ranks in the top five for health care, economy, infrastructure and education, U.S. News says.

“We are thrilled that U.S. News & World Report has named Washington the No. 1 state in the country,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement shared by U.S. News. “This confirms what we, in Washington have always known, that our state is great for businesses, workers, and investments, coupled with natural beauty and innovative, creative people.

“I am pleased to share Washington’s success with the world.”

California ranked No. 19 on U.S. News’ list overall. Here’s how we performed in individual categories:

Health Care: 7
Education: 21
Economy: 4
Opportunity: 49
Infrastructure: 32
Crime & Corrections: 23
Fiscal Stability: 42
Natural Environment: 5

A national survey conducted by U.S. News found that just 27 percent of respondents generally agree that their state is doing all it can to help residents prosper. The survey also found that 52 percent of respondents are generally dissatisfied about the quality of education in their state, 48 percent are dissatisfied about the quality of infrastructure and 42 percent are dissatisfied about the quality of health care.

Respondents also agreed that education, infrastructure and health care are the most underfunded by state governments.

To compile the rankings, U.S. News looked at 71 metrics under eight categories. The eight rankings were weighted based on the average of three years data from a national survey that asked respondents to prioritize each category in their state. Health care, education and economy received the top three weights in the methodology. After U.S. News calculated category scores and rankings, it compiled overall rankings by creating weighted averages of the individual category rankings. (You can read the full methodology here.)

— Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa and Bea Karnes contributed to this story

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