FL Ranked 8th In Best States Report: Here’s Why

Florida is the eighth-best in the country in a new ranking Wednesday that shows how well states are working for the people who live there.

Rather than focus on any one issue, U.S. News & World Report pulled together dozens of measures covering health care, education, the economy, infrastructure, public safety, opportunity and other factors that shape everyday life for its 2026 Best States Rankings.

To determine the rankings, categories were weighted differently according to a public survey on key priorities. The most critical areas identified were healthcare and education, receiving the highest importance.

These were followed by state economies, infrastructure, and citizen opportunity. Fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and the natural environment were also factored in, with fiscal stability carrying slightly more weight than the latter two.

Where Florida Shines

According to U.S. News & World Report, Florida ranks high in education and the economy and low in opportunity.

“With millions of visitors each year to its beaches, major amusement parks centered around Orlando and cruise ships departing from ports on both coasts, tourism is a major contributor to Florida's gross domestic product. The state’s agriculture industry is also robust, with Florida groves producing many of the country’s oranges and a winter vegetable industry that makes agriculture a year-round enterprise,” the publication said in the state’s overview.

U.S. News & World Report added, “Tourism, which pays a sizable share of the state’s sales tax, also has enabled Florida to remain among the states without a personal income tax – adding to the allure of the nation’s leading retirement haven.”

Here’s where Florida ranked in the following categories:

Crime and corrections: No. 14

Education: No. 3

Health care: No. 20

Natural environment: No. 15

Economy: No. 7

Fiscal stability: No. 16

Infrastructure: No. 11

Opportunity: No. 47

The top 10 states in the U.S. News ranking are, respectively, Utah, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Idaho, Florida, Washington and Vermont.