Author:
Source: U.S. News & World Report
Publication Date: Wednesday May 15, 2019 · 3:35 PM PDT
Link: Best States Rankings
Stephan: Everyone who reads SR knows, I think, that I care nothing for partisanship and political polemics. What I care about is social outcome data, actual facts. And I have been saying for years that Red value states consistently have poorer social outcomes because Republicans can't govern, at least can't govern in the sense of fostering individual and social wellbeing, because the party has become a christofascist cult with other priorities than social wellbeing.
But even I, who track this data on a daily basis, was unprepared for how bad the differential in quality of life between Red value states and Blue value states has become. Consider this report which ranks states by 70 different social metrics. Facts are facts. It's a shame so many of us won't look at them.
Some states shine in health care. Some soar in education. Some excel in both – or in much more. The Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety, the fiscal stability of state government, and the opportunity it affords its residents.
More weight was accorded to some state measures than others, based on a survey of what matters most to people. Health care and education were weighted most heavily. Then came state economies, infrastructure, and the opportunity states offer their citizens. Fiscal stability followed closely in weighting, followed by measures of crime & corrections and a state’s natural environment.
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