Nevada Ranked Near Bottom On U.S. News' "Best States" List

NEVADA - Nevada is an unremarkable state, according to U.S. News & World Report. The publisher's second annual state rankings list, released on Tuesday, ranks Nevada as the 34th best state in the country.

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. Nevada ranked 35th in the category.

Despite the relatively low ranking on the list, Nevada received high marks in economy and infrastructure, and was in the top 20 states for opportunity.

Here's how Nevada ranked in each measured category:

• Crime and corrections: 44
• Economy: 12
• Education: 44
• Fiscal Stability: 38
• Healthcare: 35
• Infrastructure: 5
• Opportunity: 19
• Quality of life: 43

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.

Patch National Reporter Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.

Image: Road leading to Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, NV (Lucas Thomas/Las Vegas Patch)