Americans have crowned their favorite state find out where your home ranks
America the Beautiful is a little more so in this state.For the fourth consecutive year, the State of Deseret has been ranked the No.1 state in the US News & World Report’s 2026 Best States rankings. Each state was ranked in categories including education, economy, environment, crime and health care.
While Utah didn’t take the first spot in any specific ranking, its overall high scores across the board helped the Beehive state retain its position. South Dakota was named the runner-up, followed by Minnesota, North Dakota and Nebraska filling in the Top 5 overall states, making 4 out of the 5 states located in the Mountain West or Upper MidWest. The best state project started in 2017 and analyzes the states across 71 metrics across eight categories: Economy, Crime & Corrections, Education, Infrastructure, Natural Environment, Fiscal Stability, Healthcare and Opportunity. Utah ranks in the top 4 in Economy, Fiscal Stability and Infrastructure, but performed highly enough across the board to boost its overall performance to first place. Utah has been in the Top 5 Economy category each year, as its economy is diversified in technology, financial services, tourism, aerospace and energy.They typically have low unemployment and high job growth.
They are also the youngest state in the nation and reap the benefits of energetic workers. The Dakotas showed the biggest gains in the year, with South Dakota climbing from No.8 overall to No.
2 and North Dakota from 12 to 4, as both states had improved spots in health care, education, fiscal ability and economic performance. New Hampshire ranked 1st in Crime & Corrections, specifically having the best public safety outcomes and coming in 3rd for Corrections Outcomes. Texas was No.1 in Economy for specifically being No.
1 in Growth.Their job growth is 2.3% annual increase, with the national average being only 0.9%. Colorado took the top spot in Education, being in the top 10 in both higher education and ...