New Mexico falls to 48 on best states ranking
(The Center Square) – New Mexico is ranked No. 48 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 ranking of the best states to live, dropping from No. 46 last year in an analysis that looks at things like health care, education and opportunity.
The fourth annual report ranks all 50 states based on six dozen metrics across eight categories. According to the report’s methodology, some 70,000 people were surveyed and asked to prioritize each subject in their home state.
The eight categories were then weighted based on responses, with health care and education at the top, followed by the economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime and natural environment.
Equal weight was then assigned to elements within each category. For example, under health care, public health, access and quality were each weighted at 33 percent.
Data for developing the metrics was drawn from numerous sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI and the National Center for Education Statistics.
Within each metric, the state that performed the best was given a score of 100 and the state that performed the worst scored 0. States in between were indexed proportionally.
New Mexico scored the worst of all states for education and ranked No. 49 for opportunity. Its highest score was No. 31 for natural environment and ranked No. 33 for health care. Other scores were the economy (44), infrastructure (45), fiscal stability (35) and crime (47).
In looking at education, survey respondents in New Mexico gave the lowest rating for K-12 education, although higher education there came in at No. 24. The state’s high school graduation rate is 74 percent, 11 percentage points below the national average. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress math test, eighth graders in New Mexico averaged a score of 269, some 13 points below the national average.
For higher education, however, college students in New Mexico have an average of $21,000 in debt at graduation, $8,000 below the national average.
New Mexico’s best score for natural environment came from a weighted score of No. 4 for air quality according to survey respondents. Data from the Environmental Protection Agency show New Mexico has 136 pounds of industrial toxins per square mile, well below the national average of 959.
Looking at crime, 316 people per 100,000 residents in New Mexico are incarcerated, 100 below the national average, but the state also has 832 violent crimes per 100,000 people, which is nearly 500 above the national average.
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