Affordability is weighing California down in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best States Rankings, which revealed who is outperforming in areas like health care access and math test scores — and who is coming in dead last.
California is both leading and lagging in the latest rankings unveiled on Tuesday, July 28.
The rankings are an assessment of how each state performs based on numerous metrics across the following categories:
- Education: Metrics include four-year college graduation rate, low debt at graduation, high school graduation rate, math and reading test scores
- Health care: Metrics include health insurance enrollment, rate of preventable hospital admissions and low mortality rate
- Economy: Metrics include the number of top companies headquartered in a state, job growth and a low unemployment rate
- Infrastructure: Metrics include the cost of electricity, renewable energy usage, commute times and road quality
- Opportunity: Metrics include the cost of living, housing affordability, low food insecurity and the income gap by gender
- Fiscal stability: Metrics include budget balancing and government credit rating
- Natural environment: Metrics include air quality, drinking water quality and long-term health and pollution
- Crime and corrections: Metrics include incarceration rate, violent crime rate and property crime rate
How did California do?
California ranked 35th overall in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best States Rankings. It’s a small improvement from last year’s ranking, which placed the sprawling state at No. 37.
The state leads in areas such as higher education, health care quality, its business environment and internet access. But it comes dead
last in the broad category of opportunity, including under its subcategory of affordability that looks to metrics like the cost of living and housing affordability, according to U.S. News & World Report.
It comes as California home prices continue to be much more expensive than the rest of the nation, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said on July 20. Prices for mid-tier homes — about $775,000 — are more than twice as expensive as the typical mid-tier U.S. home, according to the LAO.
Also at play: California’s cost of living was about 11% above the national average in 2024, according to the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The Living Wage Calculator shows what a person working full time must earn hourly to cover basic needs — including food, housing and health care — in their area without depending on public or private assistance. The living wage is $30.48 for an adult with no children in California, based on living wage data sourced from the Living Wage Institute via https://livingwage.mit.edu.
Overall, the Golden State performed slightly better than its neighbors, Nevada and Oregon; however, Arizona ranked slightly higher.
Here’s how California performed in each category:
- Education: No. 25
- Health care: No. 7
- Economy: No. 26
- Infrastructure: No. 32
- Opportunity: No. 50
- Fiscal stability: No. 44
- Natural environment: No. 27
- Crime and corrections: No. 36
What is the best state in the U.S.?
Utah was again ranked as the best state in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. It performed especially well in categories like the economy, fiscal stability and infrastructure.
The top 10 states, according to the rankings, are:
- Utah
- South Dakota
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Florida
- Washington
- Vermont
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Every other state beats California in affordability, rankings reveal
