WA among best in the country for education, environment in new U.S. News rankings

It might be difficult to quantify what makes a particular U.S. state good or bad, but that didn’t stop U.S. News and World Report from trying.

Last week, U.S. News released its annual rankings of each state in the country. Washington fell two spots from last year’s rankings, but still managed to place near the top of the list at No. 10.

The outlet gave each state a score in eight categories: economy, education, opportunity, health care, fiscal stability, crime, natural environment and infrastructure. It then used those scores to determine the overall rankings.

Here’s where the Evergreen State stands out, according to U.S. News.

Washington ranked No. 7 for infrastructure, environment

Washington’s highest marks came in the infrastructure and natural environment categories, where it placed seventh.

In the infrastructure category, Washington earned high marks for its access to the internet and energy, while its transportation score was around average. Washington placed two spots below neighboring Oregon in the infrastructure category, while Utah and Nevada also made a West and Midwest-heavy top 10.

Here are the 10 states with the best infrastructure, according to U.S. News:

• Nebraska.
• South Dakota.
• Utah.
• Nevada.
• Oregon.
• Kansas.
• Washington.
• North Dakota.
• Vermont.
• Minnesota.

In the environment category Washington was the highest-ranked western state in the Lower 48 (Hawaii took the top spot). Its score was driven by high marks for air and water quality. Here’s the rest of the list:

• Hawaii.
• Maryland.
• Massachusetts.
• New Hampshire.
• South Dakota.
• New York.
• Washington.
• Rhode Island.
• Vermont.
• Idaho.

State ranked No. 9 for education

Washington’s next-highest score came in the education category, where it was ranked No. 9. That was largely due to its No. 3 ranking for higher education, according to U.S. News – the state ranked No. 31 for its K-12 education.

The higher-education scores were created using each state’s graduation rates, percentage of adults with a college degree, tuition costs at public colleges and the average amount of student loan debt held.

The K-12 education scores were based on each state’s preschool enrollment rate, high school graduation rate, National Assessment of Educational Progress scores and the percentage of students scoring above the 75th percentile on the SAT or ACT.

Washington had the highest education score on the West Coast, although in the western U.S. as a whole, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming placed higher.

Here’s the entire top 10:

• New Jersey.
• Florida.
• Colorado.
• Utah.
• Massachusetts.
• Wyoming.
• Wisconsin.
• South Dakota.
• Washington.
• Connecticut.

Where did state rank in other categories?

Environment, infrastructure and education were the only ranked categories in which the Evergreen State made the top 10. It was ranked No. 15 in health care, No. 16 in fiscal stability, No. 23 for its economy, No. 33 for crime and No. 40 for opportunity.

In the overall rankings, Washington was still the top West Coast state, despite falling two spots from last year. Its neighbor to the east, Idaho, took the No. 3 spot.