Each year, US News and World Report releases a ‘Best States’ ranking, seeking to highlight “how well states are performing for their citizens.” The measurement that determines the ranking includes thousands of data points focused on categories of economy, education, health care, infrastructure, natural environment, opportunity, crime and corrections, and fiscal stability.

While Colorado generally performs fairly well in the ranking, the 2024 release reveals that the state has slipped compared to last year – from 15th to 16th among the 50 states nationwide. The ‘crime and corrections’ category of data was where the state ranked the lowest.

Colorado did end up performing ‘top 10’ in data categories of ‘economy’ and ‘education’ – 4th and 5th, respectively. The state also performed well when it came to ‘health care’ and ‘infrastructure’ with both categories ranking 12th among the 50 states. Unfortunately, the Centennial State ranked in the lower half of the 50 states in each of the remaining four categories of criteria.

The state ranked 26th in terms of ‘natural environment,’ which included poor scores in terms of unhealthy air and drinking water violation points. The state ranked 36th in terms of ‘financial stability,’ below average both in terms of short-term and long-term stability. And the state ranked 39th in terms of ‘opportunity’ metrics. When it came to ‘opportunity,’ Colorado did rank a high 6th-place in terms of economic opportunity, though the state ranked 41st in terms of affordability and 43rd in terms of equality.

Perhaps most problematic and disturbing was the state’s 47th-place rank when it came to metrics related to ‘crime and corrections’ – above only New Mexico, Arkansas, and Louisiana. One of the biggest factors in this low ranking was reported to be a high rate of violent crime in Colorado – 492 crimes per 100,000 residents compared to a national violent crime rate of 381 per 100,000. The state also had a higher rate of incarcerated juveniles compared to the national norm – 42 per 100,000 Coloradan juveniles compared to 39 per 100,000 on the national level.

Now, it’s also worth noting that when it comes to specific cities in Colorado, US News and World Report also highlighted a couple Centennial State spots as two of the best places to live in terms of ‘quality of life’ earlier this year. Boulder ranked second nationwide, while Fort Collins ranked 15th.

Do you think Colorado’s slippage from a 15th-place rank to a 16th-place rank is representative of life in Colorado over the past year? Let us know in the comments.

Find the full breakdown of US News and World Report’s state-by-state rankings here.

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