World Cup fans share positive experiences in America
Outside of the World Cup finals, fans have great things to say about their experience in the United States.
take sports seriously
A new study ranked each of the 50 states from best to worst.
U.S. News released its 2026 Overall Best State Rankings the week of July 27th. Each state was analyzed in eight categories: education, health care, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, financial stability, natural environment, and crime and corrections.
This year, the top five states were Utah, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. At the bottom were Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alaska and Louisiana.
Want to know where your state falls on the list? Take a look at this year’s rankings.
Which state is number 1?
U.S. News ranked Utah as the best state overall. The state ranked second for economic and fiscal stability, fourth for infrastructure, sixth for education, seventh for crime and corrections, 18th for health care, 24th for opportunity and 48th for natural environment.
Which state ranks 50th?
Louisiana ranked 50th. The state ranked 43rd in fiscal stability, 45th in health care and opportunity, 46th in infrastructure and education, 49th in economy and natural environment, and 50th in crime and corrections.
How are each of the 50 states rated?
Let’s take a closer look at how US News ranks each of the 50 states.
- Utah
- south dakota
- minnesota
- north dakota
- nebraska
- new hampshire
- idaho
- florida
- washington
- vermont state
- Massachusetts
- iowa
- north carolina
- Delaware
- wisconsin
- wyoming
- colorado
- connecticut
- virginia
- new jersey
- maryland
- georgia
- new york
- Kansas
- tennessee
- texas
- maine
- Hawaii
- montana
- Indiana
- missouri
- south carolina
- rhode island
- arizona
- California
- oklahoma
- illinois
- nevada
- Oregon
- pennsylvania
- kentucky
- ohio
- Alabama
- west virginia
- arkansas
- Michigan
- new mexico
- mississippi
- alaska
- louisiana
How were the rankings determined?
To determine the rankings, U.S. News analyzed 71 indicators across eight categories: education, health care, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, financial stability, natural environment, and crime and corrections. Some categories were given more weight than others. For example, health care and education were valued more than crime, corrections, and the natural environment. Within a category, each state was given points out of 100, with the best state receiving 100 points and the worst state receiving 0 points.
In addition to these point-based ratings, U.S. News surveyed people across the country on how satisfied they were with their state’s performance in each category. U.S. News surveyed more than 56,000 people across the United States from 2018 to 2025.
Let’s take a closer look at how the categories were analyzed.
- education: Two-year and four-year college graduation rates, educational attainment, low college debt, low college tuition and fees, college readiness, high school graduation rates, National Assessment of Educational Progress math and reading scores, preschool enrollment rates.
- health care: Health insurance coverage, Child health and dental visits, Adult health and dental visits, Affordability of health care, Low rates of preventable hospitalizations, Quality of Medicare, Quality of nursing homes and hospitals, Low infant mortality rates, Low mortality rates, Low obesity and smoking rates, Low rates of mental health and suicide.
- economy: Business creation rate, top company headquarters, patent creation rate, low tax burden, venture capital invested, employment growth, labor force participation rate, low unemployment rate, net immigration, gross domestic product growth, youth population growth
- Infrastructure: Electricity prices, grid reliability, renewable energy usage, internet subscription fees and gigabit internet access, bridge and road quality, commuting times and public transportation usage.
- opportunity: Disparities in unemployment and labor force participation by cost of living, housing affordability, low rates of food insecurity and poverty, income dispersion, household income and education, race, gender, and disability status.
- Financial stability: Government credit ratings, pension fund liabilities, liquidity, and budget balances
- Natural environment: Drinking water and air quality, low industrial toxins, low health risks from pollution
- Crime and Corrections: Equality in incarceration, lower rates of juvenile incarceration, lower rates of incarceration, lower rates of property and violent crimes.
Greta Cross is USA TODAY’s national trends reporter. Story ideas? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
