OHIO — A new report ranks Ohio as the 38th best state in the country, making it the 13th worst state, according to U.S. News & World Report.
That’s down two slots from last year when Ohio was 36th in the same report.
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The report looked at eight categories for their rankings. Those categories were health care, education, natural environment, opportunity, economy, crime and corrections and infrastructure and fiscal stability.
Ohio ranked higher in opportunity at 17th and fiscal stability at 25th.
The state ranked lowest in economy at 39th and natural environment at 41st.
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Topping the list of best states was Utah. U.S. News & World Report writes Utah is “home to a diverse and resilient economy, smart students, low crime and a fairly healthy population.”
The lowest state in the rankings was Louisiana. It ranked last in crime and corrections and economy. It’s highest category was health care at 44.
The top 10 states were:
- Utah
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Florida
- Vermont
- South Dakota
- Massachusetts
- Washington
The lowest ranked states were:
- Pennsylvania
- Oklahoma
- Michigan
- Arkansas
- Alabama
- West Virginia
- New Mexico
- Mississippi
- Alaska
- Louisiana
You can read the full report here.
Despite the low ranking in the U.S. News & World report study, Ohio is getting high rankings as hot housing market. A recent report from Forbes ranked five cities in Ohio in the top 20 housing markets for Spring 2025.
Toledo was first on the list followed by Canton-Massillon in 5th, Akron 6th, Youngstown-Warren-Boardman at 18th and Dayton at 19th.
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