GA Ranks 21st Among The Best States: Here’s Why

GEORGIA — A new ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News and World Report says Georgia is the 21st 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 Georgia ranked in each of them:

• Health care: 37th place
• Education: 27th place
• Natural environment: 20th place
• Opportunity: 32nd place
• Economy: 18th place
• Crime and corrections: 22nd place
• Infrastructure: 13th place
• Fiscal stability: fifth place

A recent study showed Sandy Springs is Georgia’s most diverse town. Nationwide, the metro Atlanta city was 43rd on WalletHub’s ranking.

Roswell (49th), Atlanta (74th) and Columbus (104th) were also named among the most diverse cities.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, of the state’s more than 11 million people, Georgia is largely comprised of non-Hispanic Caucasian and African-American residents.

Emory University is Georgia’s most diverse post-secondary institution, according to a Niche ranking. Life University and Georgia State University followed suit.

Meanwhile, the Peach State serves customers with diverse tastes in food, offering restaurants that dishes out meals from octopus lemongrass salad to house burgers to caviar and cheese.

Utah topped the U.S. News and World Report 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 do not 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.