SALT LAKE CITY — You may have long-held beliefs that Utah is the best, but now the Beehive State has proof as new rankings by U.S. News & World Report put Utah in the top spot for the best state in America.
Utah beat out Washington, which has held the title of "Best State" for the last two years.
The rankings use data points to capture how states serve their residents, U.S. News explained. More than 70 metrics are placed into eight categories to make the determination.
Categories include crime and corrections, economy, education, fiscal stability, health care, infrastructure, natural environment and opportunity.
Of the categories, Utah placed in the top spot for economy as well as fiscal stability.
Utah has seen unemployment consistently below the national unemployment rate, with March's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at an estimated 2.4%.
For the infrastructure category, which includes things such as energy, internet access and transportation, Utah ranked No. 4 among all states.
Education in Utah also got its recognition with the state ranking No. 5 nationwide. The category is split into two attributes focusing on preschool and K-12 education as well as higher education across the state.
Health Care received the seventh spot when compared to the rest of the country and crime and corrections ranked at number 15.
Opportunity, which includes affordability, economic opportunity and equality ranked at number 20.
Although Utah cinched a top 20 spot in the opportunity category, the state ranked No. 28 for affordability and No. 48 for equality.
Maybe most surprisingly, Utah ranked No. 46 in the natural environment category.
Though Utah has some gorgeous sights to see, the category included attributes of air and water quality as well as pollution.
In both attributes, Utah placed in the bottom half of states, with U.S. News citing Utah as having had worse than the national average for days with unhealthy air quality, drinking water violation points and industrial toxins.
Nearby, Idaho took the bronze as the third-best state in the U.S. with high placement in the categories of economy and fiscal stability.
On the other end of the spectrum, Louisiana was ranked the worst state in America.
