U.S. News & World Report

===Best States===
[[File:Map, USA, states, education ranking 2019 - U.S. News & World Report.svg|thumb|Education ranking of state residents as of 2019: <span style="background:#00ff00">01-10</span>, <span style="background:#ffff00">11-20</span>, <span style="color:#808000">21-30</span>, <span style="color:#ff0000">31-40</span>, <span style="color:#800000">41-50</span>]]
In 2017, ''U.S. News'' published its first ranking of all 50 [[U.S. state]]s, incorporating metrics in seven categories: health care, education, crime and corrections, infrastructure, opportunity, economy, and government. The weighting of the individual categories in determining overall rank was informed by surveys on what matters most to residents. [[Massachusetts]] occupied the top rank, and [[Louisiana]] ranked worst.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://media.beam.usnews.com/b5/c5/ecf250de4930b201f74063d5150e/171206-best-states-overall-rankings-2017.pdf
|title=Best States 2017
|year=2018
|publisher=U.S. News & World Report
|access-date=2020-01-17
|archive-date=February 3, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203173814/https://media.beam.usnews.com/b5/c5/ecf250de4930b201f74063d5150e/171206-best-states-overall-rankings-2017.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

In 2018, the eight categories were: health care, education, economy, opportunity, infrastructure, crime and corrections, fiscal stability, and quality of life. [[Iowa]] was ranked first, and [[Louisiana]] ranked worst.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://media.beam.usnews.com/ba/b2/c75f31c94080b1d8a17931bcddd0/171206-best-states-overall-rankings-2018.pdf
|title=Best States 2018
|year=2018
|publisher=U.S. News & World Report
|access-date=2020-01-17
|archive-date=February 3, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203173838/https://media.beam.usnews.com/ba/b2/c75f31c94080b1d8a17931bcddd0/171206-best-states-overall-rankings-2018.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref> In 2019, natural environment replaced the quality of life category. [[Washington (state)|Washington]] occupied the top rank, and [[Louisiana]] ranked worst.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://media.beam.usnews.com/69/4f/9ec3a3e94c4080b146d64d27288a/190508-best-states-overall-rankings-2019.pdf
|title=Best States 2019
|year=2019
|publisher=U.S. News & World Report
|access-date=2020-01-17
|archive-date=January 16, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116034703/https://media.beam.usnews.com/69/4f/9ec3a3e94c4080b146d64d27288a/190508-best-states-overall-rankings-2019.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

No ranking was published in 2020. In 2021, [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Minnesota]], and [[Utah]] topped the list; [[New Mexico]], [[Mississippi]], and [[Louisiana]] were ranked as the worst.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://www.usnews.com/media/best-states/overall-rankings-2021.pdf 
|title=Best States 2021
|year=2021
|publisher=U.S. News & World Report
|access-date=2022-07-31}}
</ref>