U.S. News Reveals 2021 Best States Ranking

ACROSS AMERICA — When deciding where to live, one usually takes a lot of factors into account — good schools, low crime, access to good health care. Some states, however, do a better job than others when it comes to providing these things to residents and communities, according to a new ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

For the second year in a row, Washington is ranked as the No. 1 state in the country, according to the 2021 Best States list compiled by U.S. News. The state earned the ranking due to its low-carbon energy system and robust secondary education. The state’s economy is also the fastest-growing in the nation.

Following the Evergreen State in the overall rankings is Minnesota at No. 2 and Utah at No. 3.

To determine the best states, U.S. News ranks each in 71 metrics across eight categories. Researchers then determine a state’s overall ranking based on the weighted average of the state’s ranking in those eight categories.

The purpose behind the rankings is to show how well and in what ways states best serve their residents. Read more about the ranking’s methodology here.

Top-performing states in each of the eight categories include:

• Health care: Hawaii
• Education: New Jersey
• Economy: Utah
• Infrastructure: Nevada
• Opportunity: Iowa
• Fiscal stability: Alaska
• Crime and corrections: New Hampshire
• Natural environment: Hawaii

Separate from this year’s ranking, U.S. News also compiled a new COVID-19 state toolkit, which allows users to compare several coronavirus metrics including the vaccine rate of each state, COVID-19 cases and deaths, unemployment statistics and more.

The toolkit updates at least daily, according to a U.S. News release.

Despite the rankings, residents remain divided on their state’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report.

In a national survey conducted by U.S. News, just over 44.15 percent of respondents agreed that their state handled it well, 40.47 percent disagreed and 15.38 percent were neutral.