We may all have our gripes about living in New Jersey, but it also brings a lot of us a big sense of pride. And most of us would probably consider it to be one of the best places in the country, regardless of whether that's actually true.
And according to U.S. News & World Report's 2026 Best States Ranking, we're not too far off: New Jersey was named the 20th best state in the nation, according to this year's report.
The ranking was based on how all 50 states performed in eight categories: education, healthcare, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and corrections, and natural environment. Each state also received individual rankings for each of these eight categories, as well as for key metrics within each of these categories.
The Garden State placed in the top half of the 50 states for four of the eight categories considered in the ranking.
The state earned its highest placement in education, coming in second out of all 50 states. The report cites New Jersey's performance in pre-K-12 education for its ranking, which it labeled as the best in the nation.
For health care, New Jersey ranked sixth overall. This was mainly attributed to public health, which the state ranked first overall for, but access and quality of health care also played a role, according to the report.
New Jersey also ranked highly for both crimes and corrections (No. 11) and infrastructure (No. 12), and moderately for environment (No. 28) and economy (No. 36). But the state ranked poorly for opportunity (No. 44) and fiscal stability (No. 49), due to its overall lack of affordability.
Utah was named the overall best state in the nation, ranking in the top 20 for six of the eight categories, according to the report. South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota and Nebraska made up the remaining top five states.
On the other end, Louisiana ranked 50th overall, and is considered to be the worst state in the nation, according to the report. Alaska, Mississippi, New Mexico and Michigan also ranked in the report's bottom five states.
Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter for NorthJersey.com and The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her on Instagram @maddiemcgay, on X @maddiemcgayy, and sign up for her North Jersey Living newsletter. Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: What are the best states in the nation for 2026? See where NJ ranks