NEWS
Washington named top ten state by US News rankings
Zachary FletcherKitsap Sun
July 28, 2026, 10:40 a.m. PT
Washington residents can now officially call their home a top ten place to live
U.S. News & World Report released their “Best States” rankings for 2026 this week, and Washington ranked ninth overall. The state moved up slightly after being ranked 10th in 2025 and eighth in 2024
The annual list looks at the state of healthcare, education, infrastructure, public safety, natural environments and economic status and opportunities in each state. Washington ranked in the top ten for the individual categories of education, infrastructure and the natural environment
Utah is the best state in 2026, according to the U.S News & World Report rankings, while Louisiana landed in last place for the third year in a row. Washington landed between Florida at eighth on the list and Vermont at tenth. Other west coast states were ranked at #7 (Idaho), #35 (California) and #39 (Oregon)
How did U.S. News & World Report rank each state?
To create the “Best States” 2026 rankings, U.S. News & World Report consults 71 metrics in eight categories, according to their methodology page. The data used to create the rankings “aims to show how well states serve their residents in a variety of ways,” they write
Each category was weight slightly differently in the final rankings, based on survey results that asked tens of thousands of people which issues were a priority for them
Education (15.79%) and Health Care (15.51%) were the highest priority issues and got the heaviest weight in the rankings. Economy, Infrastructure, Fiscal Stability and Opportunity are all weighted between 12-13%, while Natural Environment and Crime & Corrections markers sit between 9-10%
Each category was broken down into subcategories, including Higher Education and Pre-K-12 for Education, and Health Care Access, Quality and Public Health for the Health Care category
The full list of measures and methodology are available at U.S. News & World Report’s website
How did Washington rank among U.S. News & World Report’s categories?
Washington was ranked the ninth best state in 2026 The state has a GDP of $895 billion, an area of 71,301 square miles and a population of just over 8 million
Washington was in or near the top half of states for most of the categories used to create this year’s rankings. Here’s where Washington landed among the states:
- Overall: 9
- Crime & Corrections: 26
- Economy: 19
- Education: 8
- Fiscal Stability: 26
- Healthcare: 14
- Infrastructure: 8
- Natural Environment: 7
- Opportunity: 34
Washington’s highest ranking came in the “Natural Environment” category (7). Here’s what the rankings looked at in this category and how Washington fared:
- Days with unhealthy air quality: 88 (national average: 152)
- Drinking water violation poitns: 1.79 (national average: 2.29)
- Industrial toxins: 242 (national average 930)
Washington ranked lowest in the “Opportunity” category, which looked at different measures including household income and poverty rates. Here’s what the rankings looked at in this category and how Washington fared:
- Cost of living index: 107.0 (National average: 100.0)
- Median household income: $99,389 (national average: $81,604)
- Poverty rate: 9.9% (national average: 12.1%)
See the full list of Washington’s rankings here
See the top 10 best states News & World Report
- Utah
- South Dakota
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Florida
- Washington
- Vermont
Zachary Fletcher is a trending news reporter with USA TODAY Network’s Washington state team. Keep up with him on X (@zdfletch), BlueSky (@zfletcher.bsky.social) or reach him at zfletcher@usatodayco.com
