Connecticut Ranks Among The Top 15 Best States: Here’s Why

CONNECTICUT — A new ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report says Connecticut is the 15th best overall in meeting the diverse needs of its residents.

The rankings, which U.S. News first launched in 2017, assess the states across eight categories and 71 metrics. Here’s where Connecticut ranked in each of them:

Health care: 3rd
Education: 10th
Natural environment: 15th
Opportunity: 43rd
Economy: 8th
Crime and corrections: 8th
Infrastructure: 27th
Fiscal stability: 48th

Connecticut is among the nation's 15 best states on the strength of rankings in health care, economy, crime and corrections and education. The boasts about two-dozen colleges and universities, including Yale University, Wesleyan University, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and University of Connecticut, home of one of the nation's preeminent college basketball programs.

The state is also rich in history, being one of the 13 original colonies, and home to the oldest continuously operating newspaper, the Hartford Courant. Connecticut is also one of the first states to introduce railroads, and is home to sports media giants ESPN and NBC Sports.

Utah topped the list for the third consecutive year. The state has never slipped below the top five in the economy category in the history of the Best States rankings, U.S. News said. Here’s the top 10:

1. Utah
2. New Hampshire
3. Idaho
4. Minnesota
5. Nebraska
6. Florida
7. Vermont
8. South Dakota
9. Massachusetts
10. Washington

U.S. News said many of the top-ranked states put a big priority on education — the highest-weighted category of the 2025 rankings based on new survey results showing what areas Americans believe their states should prioritize, and which issues present the most pressing concerns.

Five of the top 10 states overall also placed among the top 10 in education, while just one — Massachusetts — did the same in the category carrying the second-highest weight, health care.

Even high-performing states don’t excel in every rankings category, U.S. News said.

Utah, for example, ranks near the bottom for environment (No. 48), burdened by poor scores for industrial toxins and pollution health risk. Florida — among the nation’s worst performers for housing affordability and income equality — ranks 47th for opportunity, and South Dakota ranks 46th for health care, weighed down in part by a U.S. News assessment of hospital quality in the state.

There was little movement among low performers in the rankings, which U.S. News said were concentrated primarily in the South but also included states in the West, Midwest and Northeast, as well as Alaska.

The lowest-ranked state is Louisiana. Other states in the bottom 10 are Alaska, Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

» Read more about the Best States methodology.