Virginia Knows How to Run Things: State Ranks Eighth Best in Country

Virginia is the eighth best-run state in the Union and the highest-ranking state  South of the Mason-Dixon Line, according to a ranking by 247wallst.com.

Virginia has ranked in the top 10 since the website began ranking the nation's 50 states two years ago.

In 2010, Virginia ranked seventh but this year, it fell one spot and landed comfortably between seventh-ranked Vermont and Kansas.

The website found Wyoming to be the best state in the U.S.

The rankings are based on financial health, how a state uses its resources to provide living standards, crime rate, education and employment stats.

Virginia is the best in South, largely because its the exception and not part of the rule of problems that plague many of its Southern neighbors.

The Commonwealth has the 10th lowest unemployment rate and the eighth lowest percent of residents below the poverty line, according to data.

It also has the 22nd lowest state debt per capita and the 20th lowest percentage of residents living without health insurance.