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The basics:

• New Jersey takes top spot for education in U.S. News & World Report‘s 2025 Best States ranking
• Garden State drops five spots overall from last year
• Strong scores in health care, crime & corrections, and infrastructure

Although New Jersey fell five spots in U.S. News & World Report’s annual overall Best States ranking, the Garden State came in ahead of the pack when it comes to education.

Released May 6, the list judges all 50 states on categories including health care, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime & corrections, and natural environment.

Utah – for the third year in a row – was named the best state in the nation. Louisiana came in last.

The Garden State dropped to No. 19 on the overall Best States list, down from No. 14 in 2024. In fact, the state landed back to its 2023 placement.

“Amidst economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and evolving trade policies, the 2025 Best States rankings offer a critical benchmark for business leaders, investors and policymakers to assess economic competitiveness, workforce strength, infrastructure quality and long-term growth potential across all 50 states in the United States,” U.S. News Executive Chairman and CEO Eric Gertler said in a statement accompanying the list.

Gertler added that the rankings can help “business leaders decide where to invest their capital, help residents decide where to live and help policymakers understand the best policies to drive improvements in their states.”

Launched in 2017, the evaluation now includes 71 metrics.

New Jersey’s report card

While the Garden State scored especially well for education and health care, it came in toward the bottom for fiscal stability and opportunity.

Among the eight overall categories, the Garden State ranked (with 2024 score):

• No. 1: Education up from No. 4
• No. 5: Health care down from No. 4
• No. 10: Crime & corrections down from No. 5
• No. 12: Infrastructure up from No. 16
• No. 28: Natural environment down from No. 24
• No. 31: Economy down from No. 24
• No. 45: Opportunity down from No. 43
• No. 49: Fiscal stability down from No. 48

Head of the class

U.S. News highlighted New Jersey’s top spot for education for 2025, noting it ranked in the top five “for all pre-K-12 metrics, including preschool enrollment, standardized test scores and high school graduation rate.”

The publication noted, however, that No. 2 Florida “is top-ranked in the higher education subcategory because of its low costs for college tuition and fees, and its impressive graduation rates for two- and four-year programs.”

Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated the news on social media platform X:

New Jersey was just named the #1 state in the nation for education by @usnews!

We have the best public schools in the country because we challenge our students, value our teachers, and invest in learning from a young age. #BestStateshttps://t.co/6Eds8GN0XG pic.twitter.com/0LD4Q3Anl1

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) May 6, 2025

Work to be done

Business groups such as the New Jersey Business & Industry Association have been strongly critical of the state’s economic climate, as reflected in the Garden State’s U.S. News evaluation. In April, NJBIA‘s Regional Business Climate Analysis ranked the state last among its neighbors.

“These results are another unfortunate reminder of the very serious affordability and regional competitiveness challenges our job creators face in New Jersey, year in and year out,” said NJBIA Vice President of Government Affairs Elissa Frank, who prepared the organization’s report. “Until we at least try to either individually or comprehensively reduce our high business cost-drivers, New Jersey will struggle to compete nationally and regionally with other states.”