Louisiana has not fared well in state rankings so far this year. The unfavorable ratings have piled up: No. 7 Judicial Hellhole, No. 1 Highest Sales Taxes in the U.S., and now “Worst State.”
In U.S. News and World Report’s first “Best States” list, which explores how each of the 50 states stack up against one another on various metrics, Louisiana came in dead last. The report included individual rankings on seven top factors—healthcare, education, crime and corrections, infrastructure, opportunity, economy, and government—as well as an overall ranking, and the data came from the U.S. Census, National Center for Education Statistics, FBI, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ACT, Moody’s investors service, and regional research centers. Louisiana performed dismally in each category:
- Healthcare: 45
- Education: 46
- Crime and Corrections: 50
- Infrastructure: 39
- Opportunity: 49
- Economy: 46
- Government: 46
To make matters worse, Louisiana also came in last in 24/7 Wall Street’s study on the best states for business. The rankings were based on categories such as economic conditions, business costs, state infrastructure, workforce availability and skill level, quality of life, regulations, technology and innovation, and cost of living. Key problems for Louisiana, according to the report, are the 12th lowest one-year real GDP change, 22nd lowest average salary, fourth lowest representation of adults with bachelor degrees, 14th lowest number of patents issued, and seventh lowest working-age population change in recent years.
