Ohio Does Poorly In Best State Rankings: U.S. News & World Report

CLEVELAND, OH — Ohio is among the worst states in the nation, according to a new set of rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report. The ranking have Ohio as the 40th best state, one of the worst showings for a state in the so-called Rust Belt.

In determining the rankings for 2018, U.S. News evaluated how each state ranked in 77 metrics across eight categories. The eight categories were weighted based on the average of two years of data from a national survey that asked over 30,000 respondents to prioritize each category in their state.

Owing to the intense debate surrounding health care, the topic was weighted as the most important category by citizens across the country. Hawaii ranked No. 1 in the health care category, followed by Iowa and Washington. Ohio, somehow, ranked 36th. This despite the presence of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.

Much of the low healthcare ranking does make sense though. Ohio gets dinged for its high infant mortality rate, it's somewhat high obesity rate, it's high smoking rate and how the state approaches mental illness. The only category that sees the state get low marks somewhat unsensibly is the healthcare quality grade, which ranks Ohio as the 28th best state. It's hard to imagine there are 27 other states with better health care systems.

The area that appears to have dragged Ohio's ranking down the most was Education, where the Buckeye State was ranked 41. It's a harsh grade, but somewhat understandable given the years of controversy surrounding how the Ohio Department of Education grades different school district. Superintendents have consistently criticized state standards for being ever-moving targets without clear definition or goals.

The state got low marks in every single education category, except for NAEP Math Scores, where Ohio was ranked 17. The second highest ranking for the state was 28. Not a good showing.

Here's how the Buckeye State ranked across all eight categories:

Crime and Corrections: 18
Economy: 32
Education: 41
Fiscal stability: 37
Health care: 36
Infrastructure: 23
Opportunity: 25
Quality of life: 40

To see more details on Ohio's ranking, click here.

Overall, Iowa ranked as the best state in the U.S. because of its strong performance in the opportunity and health care categories. Minnesota ranked No. 2 and Utah ranked No. 3 on the list. U.S. News’ findings showed that states that ranked highly in the education category also ranked highly overall. Eight of the top ten states overall also ranked among the top 10 for education. Massachusetts, which ranked No.1 for education and Utah, which ranked No.3 for education placed in the top 10 states overall.

Colorado and Utah ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the economy category while Iowa ranked No. 1 for infrastructure. New Hampshire ranked No. 1 for opportunity and Maine ranked No. 1 for crime and corrections.

The top 10 states in the U.S. are:

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

The data for the rankings came from McKinsey & Company’s Leading States Index. U.S. News ranked the categories and subcategories from 1 to 50 before creating overall rankings. (Read more about U.S. News’ methodology here.)

See the full U.S. News rankings here.

By Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff