NEW YORK — New York is the 23rd best in the country in a new ranking Wednesday that shows how well states are working for the people who live there.
Rather than focus on any one issue, U.S. News & World Report pulled together dozens of measures covering health care, education, the economy, infrastructure, public safety, opportunity and other factors that shape everyday life for its 2026 Best States Rankings.
To determine the rankings, categories were weighted differently according to a public survey on key priorities. The most critical areas identified were healthcare and education, receiving the highest importance.
These were followed by state economies, infrastructure, and citizen opportunity. Fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and the natural environment were also factored in, with fiscal stability carrying slightly more weight than the latter two.
New York scored its highest marks in the natural environment and healthcare categories, where it ranked No. 6 and No. 8 in the country, respectively.
The natural environment ranking was carried by strong drinking water quality and a lower-than-average amount of industrial toxins, the report found.
While New Yorkers are sure to remember recent days where the skies turned orange as smoke from wildfires in Canada spread across the northeast, U.S. News & World Report actually found that New York sees fewer days with unhealthy air quality than the average state — 107 per year in New York, compared with a national average of 152 per year.
On the healthcare front, New York's public health was graded No. 4 in the country, with the state recording fewer uninsured people than the national average and a slightly lower than average obesity rate.
On the other end of the spectrum, New York was in the bottom half of all U.S. states in the infrastructure and economy rankings, where the Empire State placed No. 34 and No. 35, respectively.
That infrastructure ranking was weighed down by the state's lower than average amount of renewable energy, higher than average commute time and higher than average percentage of roads in poor condition.
Meanwhile, on the economy, New York came in with $10.6 in venture capital spending per $1,000 of GDP, well above the national average of $7.91 per $1,000. That VC stat was followed by a job growth rate that only slightly outpaced the national average, growing by 1.1 percent as compared to a national average of 0.9 percent.
Finally, there was one place where New York dragged behind, almost to the bottom of the rankings: Opportunity.
U.S. News found New York the No. 49 state for opportunity — a ranking that could also be expressed as "second worst" — thanks to an above average cost of living and an above average poverty rate. While U.S. News placed New York No. 11 in terms of equality, a No. 47 ranking in terms of affordability and a No. 42 ranking on economic opportunity were enough to leave the state ahead of only one other U.S. State: California.
Rounding out the bottom five in the opportunity rankings were Texas, Florida and Connecticut.
Here's where New York ranked in the following categories:
Crime and corrections: No. 27
Education: No. 17
Health care: No. 8
Natural environment: No. 6
Economy: No. 35
Fiscal stability: No. 15
Infrastructure: No. 34
Opportunity: No. 49
The top 10 states in the U.S. News ranking are, respectively, Utah, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Idaho, Florida, Washington and Vermont.
For New Yorkers interested in some regional bragging rights, this poll might be a touch disappointing: New Jersey came in at No. 20 overall, while Connecticut ranked No. 18.
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