Minnesota 2nd best state, per U.S. News & World Report
April 26, 2018
Minnesota ranked in the top 10 among four categories. Iowa is No. 1 overall.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Minnesota is the second best state in the country according to the 2018 Best States study from U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News evaluated all 50 states across a range of criteria, from education and health care to infrastructure and the economy, to capture how states best serve their citizens.
Minnesota ranked in the top 10 among four categories: quality of life (2nd); opportunity (3rd), infrastructure (6th) and health care (7th). Other rankings included: crime and corrections (11th); education (13th); economy (20th) and fiscal stability (24th).
The rankings are based on the McKinsey & Company's Leading States Index. In determining the weights of the eight categories in the rankings, U.S. News and World Report says it used two years of data from McKinsey's "citizen experience" survey, which asked more than 30,000 people to prioritize each subject in their state and provide levels of satisfaction with government services.
Health care and education remain the most highly weighted factors in the methodology, followed closely by the economy.