While North Carolina didn't make the top 10 among U.S. News & World Report's yearly rankings for best states 2025-2026, it wasn't far off.
U.S. News published its 2026 Overall Best State Rankings the week of July 27, with states analyzed in eight weighted categories. Categories and their weights included education (15.79%), healthcare (15.51%), economy (12.88%), infrastructure (12.74%), opportunity (12.2%), fiscal stability (12.19%), natural environment (9.69%) and crime and corrections (9.01%).
Including subcategories, U.S. News collected data from over two dozen sources to calculate 71 metrics across the eight categories for each state, according to the publication's methodology page.
Here's how North Carolina ranked, plus the top and bottom
10 best states this year, according to U.S. News & World Report and more.
Is North Carolina a good place to live? To work?
North Carolina ranked in the top 15 states on the latest best state rankings from U.S. News. In each of the factors, here's how the Tar Heel State ranked:
- Crime and corrections - No. 24 of 50 states
- Economy - No. 14
- Education - No. 10
- Fiscal stability - No. 19
- Healthcare - No. 19
- Infrastructure - No. 26
- Natural environment - No. 26
- Opportunity - No. 21
Is Asheville, NC a good place to live?
In a previous list of rankings, U.S. News rated the best cities in the nation for livability. On the 2026-2027 list, no NC locations made it into the top 10, though in 2025-2026 rankings two North Carolina cities ― Cary and Apex ― were ranked No. 5 and 7, respectively.
As reported by the Citizen Times, Asheville dropped several places since its 2025-2026 assignment of No. 21 among the best places to live in N.C., landing at No. 24. The city ranks No. 648 among the best places to live nationwide and No. 629 among the best places to retire countrywide.
What are the best states in the U.S.?
The top 10 states in 2026 based on the factors considered by U.S. News included:
- No. 1 - Utah
- No. 2 - South Dakota
- No. 3 - Minnesota
- No. 4 - North Dakota
- No. 5 - Nebraska
- No. 6 - New Hampshire
- No. 7 - Idaho
- No. 8 - Florida
- No. 9 - Washington
- No. 10 - Vermont
What are the worst states in the U.S.?
On the other end of the spectrum, the bottom 10 states this year according to U.S. News rankings included:
- No. 41 - Kentucky
- No. 42 - Ohio
- No. 43 - Alabama
- No. 44 - West Virginia
- No. 45 - Arkansas
- No. 46 - Michigan
- No. 47 - New Mexico
- No. 48 - Mississippi
- No. 49 - Alaska
- No. 50 - Louisiana
Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: US News & World report ranks all 50 states and NC isn't far from top 10
