Every US state rated in health, pollution, finances: How did New York do?
New York jumped one spot higher overall in this year's U.S. News & World Report's Best States Rankings, falling almost right in the middle of the list at No. 22. U.S. News & World Report's 2025 ranking takes a closer look at several metrics across eight categories: crime and corrections, economy, education, fiscal stability, health care, infrastructure, natural environment and opportunity.
Here's how New York fared across the board.
Across U.S. News' main categories, here's how New York ranked:
Fiscal stability: No. 3
Natural environment: No. 6
Health care: No. 8
Education: No. 17
Crime and corrections: No. 24
Infrastructure: No. 34
Economy: No. 41
Opportunity: No. 49
The Empire State also ranked fairly high in these subcategories: public health (No. 2), pollution (No. 5), long-term fiscal stability (No. 6), pre-K education (No. 8) and air and water quality (No. 9).
However, New York fell close to the bottom in these four subcategories: economic opportunity (No. 40), employment (No. 41), economic growth (No. 44) and affordability (No. 45).
Utah was crowned best state overall for a third straight year and ranked in the top 20 for seven of the eight categories, according to the report. Here are U.S. News' top five overall best states in America:
Utah
New Hampshire
Idaho
Minnesota
Nebraska
Louisiana was ranked the worst state in the U.S., according to the report, and Alaska, Mississippi, New Mexico and West Virginia finished out the report's bottom five states.
Contributing: USA TODAY Network
Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network's New York Connect Team, focusing on scam and recall-related topics. Follow her on X and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY gets mixed scores in US News and World Report's Best States ranking
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