Illinois Ranks In Bottom Half Of U.S. News 'Best States' Rankings

ILLINOIS — It's no secret the Land of Lincoln has had its fair share of woes. Economic issues, allegations of corruption by elected officials, high tax rates — we've seen it all. But how does Illinois stack up against other states? According to U.S. News & World Report's third annual best states rankings, not so well.

The 2019 rankings, released Tuesday, put Illinois at No. 35 out of 50 states, right between Arizona and Indiana. The rankings evaluated states based on factors including health care, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and natural environment.

• Illinois' Property Tax Rate Among Highest In Nation
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Illinois ranked 41 when it comes to the state economy and dead last at No. 50 for fiscal stability. Here's how Illinois ranked among the 50 states in each category:

• Health care: 22
• Education: 19
• Economy: 41
• Infrastructure: 24
• Opportunity: 17
• Fiscal stability: 50
• Crime and corrections: 20
• Natural environment: 43

Washington state ranked No. 1 as the best state in the nation, according to U.S. News, while Louisiana came in at No. 50.

The top 10 states, according to the rankings, are:

1. Washington
2. New Hampshire
3. Minnesota
4. Utah
5. Vermont
6. Maryland
7. Virginia
8. Massachusetts
9. Nebraska
10. Colorado

Illinois stayed in the No. 35 spot, where it also ranked in 2018. In 2017, the Prairie State did slightly better, coming in at No. 29.

A national survey conducted by U.S. News found that just 27 percent of respondents generally agree that their state is doing all it can to help residents prosper. The survey also found that 52 percent of respondents are generally dissatisfied about the quality of education in their state, 48 percent are dissatisfied about the quality of infrastructure and 42 percent are dissatisfied about the quality of health care.

Respondents also agreed that education, infrastructure and health care are the most underfunded by state governments.

To compile the rankings, U.S. News looked at 71 metrics under eight categories. The eight rankings were weighted based on the average of three years data from a national survey that asked respondents to prioritize each category in their state. Health care, education and economy received the top three weights in the methodology. After U.S. News calculated category scores and rankings, it compiled overall rankings by creating weighted averages of the individual category rankings. (You can read the full methodology here.)

View the full rankings here.