BOISE, Idaho — The City of Boise and the state of Idaho are no strangers to being ranked as one of the best places to live in the country, but the U.S. News and World Report's Best State Ranking placed Idaho 15 overall.
Washington earned the top overall ranking for best place state, with New Hampshire and Minnesota rounding out the top three. Utah was ranked fourth, and Colorado was ranked tenth overall.
The ranking was based on eight metrics: healthcare, education, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, crime, and natural environment.
Idaho scored top marks with the economy, crime, fiscal stability, and natural environment, with rankings of sixth, eighth, 11th and 15th.
The ranking highlighted Idaho's above average job growth rate of 2.1 percent, compared to the national average of 1.2 percent. The job growth rate and the net migration percentage of 1.1 factored into the state's sixth overall ranking for economy metrics.
Rhode Island was ranked number one for the natural environment and New Jersey was ranked 13th.
Idaho's drinking water violation points were 8.65 for every 1,000 residents, above the national average of 2.4, which influenced the no. 15 ranking for natural environment.
Idaho was ranked No. 26 for healthcare, No. 33 on education, No. 29 infrastructure, No. 35 for opportunity.
A low ranking for access to the internet, No. 41, and transportation, No. 28, attributed to Idaho's infrastructure grade.
Last year, Idaho was ranked twelfth overall in the best states rankings.
In 2017, Idaho came in at No. 32 overall best state in the U.S. News and World Report's rankings.
