This is the best overall state for the third year in a row, according to US News rankings

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FILE - Salt Lake City skyline and Wasatch Mountain range with snow, Utah. (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

For the third year in a row, Utah has ranked as the best state overall, according to a U.S. News and World Report.

"Utah was probably known for three things: ‘Footloose,’ green Jell-O, and the third would be a very youthful workforce," Curtis Blair, president and CEO of the Provo-based Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, told U.S. News. "There’s a lot that has happened in Utah in the last 20 years where we have moved … to being an entrepreneurial, startup state."

What was the criteria? 

U.S. News based its ranking on eight factors, including: 

• Health care
• Education
• Economy
• Crime and corrections
• Infrastructure
• Opportunity
• Fiscal stability
• Natural environment

Dig deeper:

Overall, Utah ranked No. 1 due to its evolving and diverse economy as well as having the third-highest labor force participation rate.

It has the fourth-highest rate of gross domestic product growth and the fourth-highest rate of business creation, according to U.S. News.

What they're saying:

"Our economic structure is similar to the U.S., so when the U.S. suffers so do we," Gochnour told U.S. News. "But I will say that as a general rule, our lows are higher and our highs are higher – in the last two and a half decades, Utah’s economy has outperformed the nation, had greater strength, and when we’ve had downturns, we have been able to rebound much more quickly in our state."

In addition to a strengthened economy, Utah had one of the lowest smoking rates and the 12th-lowest rate of violent crime.

The state ranks within the top 10 of the five best state categories: fiscal stability, economy, infrastructure, education, and crime and corrections. 

Utah’s ranking scorecard:

• Crime and corrections: 7
• Economy: 3
• Education: 4
• Fiscal stability: 1
• Health care: 14
• Infrastructure: 3
• Natural environment: 48
• Opportunity: 19

2025 overall rankings

Top 10 best states in the U.S.

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

A common factor among the top 10 best states in the country was a strong ranking in education, according to U.S. News. 

Top 10 lowest-ranked states

1. Pennsylvania
2. Oklahoma
3. Michigan
4. Arkansas
5. Alabama
6. West Virginia
7. New Mexico
8. Mississippi
9. Alaska
10. Louisiana

Louisiana ranked last again this year, scoring high for crime and low for economy.

Other states that ranked low also ranked last in several categories, such as health care, education and infrastructure.