Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
For the third year in a row, Colorado’s economy ranked first among U.S. states, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best States Rankings, released on Tuesday.
Despite that strong showing, the state came in 10th overall in magazine’s ranking of states. In that regard, Colorado isn’t unlike the Denver Nuggets, which relied heavily on star center Nikola Jokic, but fell well short of a championship because of shortcomings elsewhere on the team.
Last year, the state also ranked 10th, and in the study’s inaugural year, 2017, it ranked 9th. Colorado didn’t advance, despite having Denver and Colorado Springs holding the No. 2 and 3 spots on the magazine’s list of best places.
“Colorado takes the No. 1 spot in the economy ranking, with an impressive performance in measures of growth and entrepreneurship,” said Deidre McPhillips, senior data editor at U.S. News & World Report. “However, the state ranks 12th and 11th in health care and education — the two most heavily weighted categories — and also falls in the bottom half of states in four of the eight categories assessed.”
The study looked at 71 measures across eight broad categories. The four categories where Colorado ranked in the bottom half included crime and corrections, No. 29; fiscal stability, No. 29; opportunity, No. 28; and environment, No. 31.
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