Methodology
How America's Dashboard ranks and scores all 50 US states.
Overview
America's Dashboard uses real government data to rank all 50 US states across 11 categories. Each metric is normalized to a 0–100 scale and weighted to produce a composite score. States are then ranked 1–50 and assigned letter grades so performance is easy to compare at a glance.
Data Sources
Normalization Formula
Every raw metric is converted to a 0–100 scale using linear interpolation between observed minimums and maximums:
normalize(value, min, max) = ((value − min) / (max − min)) × 100When invert = true (lower values are better, e.g. unemployment), the score is flipped: 100 − score
All results are clamped to the 0–100 range. Values below the min map to 0, values above the max map to 100.
Category Scoring
💰 Economy
15% weight- Unemployment rate (BLS)
- Median household income (Census)
50% × normalize(unemployment, 1.5–7.0, inverted) + 50% × normalize(income, $50K–$110K)🛡️ Safety
12% weight- Violent crime rate per 100K (FBI UCR)
- Property crime rate per 100K (FBI UCR)
60% × normalize(violentCrimeRate, 50–800, inv) + 40% × normalize(propertyCrimeRate, 800–3500, inv)🏥 Health
12% weight- Health ranking 1–50 (America’s Health Rankings)
normalize(healthRank, 1–50, inverted)🎓 Education
12% weight- Education ranking 1–50 (WalletHub / NAEP)
normalize(educationRank, 1–50, inverted)💼 Fiscal Health
8% weight- Total tax burden % of income (WalletHub 2025)
- State debt per capita (Census State Gov Finances FY2022)
- Rainy day fund % of expenditures (Pew Fiscal 50 FY2023)
- Pension funded ratio (Pew FY2022)
- Credit rating score (S&P/Moody’s via Ballotpedia 2025)
- GDP per capita (BEA SAGDP9 2023)
- Budget surplus/deficit % of revenue (NASBO FY2023)
- GDP growth rate, YoY real (BEA 2023)
15% × normalize(taxBurden, 4.5–14%, inv) + 15% × normalize(debt, $1K–$12K, inv) + 15% × normalize(rainyDay, 0–40%) + 15% × normalize(pension, 40–100%) + 15% × normalize(credit, 55–100) + 10% × normalize(gdpPC, $40K–$100K) + 10% × normalize(budget, −5–20%) + 5% × normalize(gdpGrowth, −2–8%)📈 Growth
7% weight- Population growth % (Census Vintage 2024)
- Net domestic migration rate (Census 2024)
- Unemployment rate (BLS)
40% × normalize(popGrowth, −0.5–2.5) + 35% × normalize(netMigration, −7–13) + 25% × normalize(unemployment, 1.5–7.0, inverted)🏠 Affordability
10% weight- Median home price (Census/FHFA 2025)
- Cost of living index (BEA RPP 2023)
- Electricity price ¢/kWh (EIA 2024)
- Childcare cost, annual infant (DOL 2023)
- Gas price $/gallon (EIA 2024)
- Grocery cost index (BEA RPP Food 2023)
- Natural gas price $/Mcf (EIA 2024)
25% × normalize(homePrice, $200K–$850K, inv) + 20% × normalize(CoL, 85–115, inv) + 15% × normalize(electricity, 8–30¢, inv) + 15% × normalize(childcare, $5K–$20K, inv) + 10% × normalize(gas, $2.50–$5.00, inv) + 10% × normalize(grocery, 85–120, inv) + 5% × normalize(natGas, $5–$25, inv)🌿 Environment
4% weight- Median air quality index (EPA AirData 2024)
- Renewable energy % (EIA 2024)
- Natural disaster risk score (FEMA NRI 2025)
40% × normalize(AQI, 20–55, inverted) + 30% × normalize(renewableEnergy, 0–100%) + 30% × normalize(disasterRisk, 0–100, inverted)🏞️ Outdoor Access
6% weight- Recreation facilities per 10K residents (Census CBP 2022)
- Public land % of state area (USGS PAD-US 2024)
- National park acreage per capita (NPS API 2024)
40% × normalize(recFacilities, 1–10 per 10K) + 35% × normalize(publicLand, 0–50%) + 25% × normalize(parkAcreage, 0–5 per capita)🚇 Transportation
7% weight- Mean commute time in minutes (Census ACS 2022)
- Multi-modal access: % transit + bicycle + walked (Census ACS 2022)
- Vehicle miles traveled per capita (FHWA 2022)
- % working from home (Census ACS 2022)
- % with 60+ minute commute (Census ACS 2022)
- % driving alone to work (Census ACS 2022)
25% × normalize(commute, 16–30 min, inverted) + 20% × normalize(multiModal, 0.5–20%) + 15% × normalize(VMT, 5.8K–12K, inverted) + 15% × normalize(WFH, 4.5–16.5%) + 15% × normalize(longCommute, 5–25%, inverted) + 10% × normalize(droveAlone, 60–90%, inverted)🎭 Livability
7% weight- Net domestic migration rate per 1,000 (Census 2024)
- Restaurants per 1,000 residents (Census CBP 2022)
- Arts/entertainment establishments per 1,000 (Census CBP 2022)
- Social associations per 1,000 (Census CBP 2022)
- Bars/breweries per 1,000 (Census CBP 2022)
30% × normalize(migration, −7–13) + 25% × normalize(restaurants, 1.4–2.3) + 20% × normalize(arts, 0.008–0.08) + 15% × normalize(socialAssoc, 0.03–0.20) + 10% × normalize(bars, 0.02–0.30)Composite Score
The composite score is a weighted sum of all 11 category scores. Higher weights reflect greater importance to overall quality of life.
composite = 15% Economy + 12% Safety + 12% Health + 12% Education + 8% Fiscal Health + 7% Growth + 10% Affordability + 4% Environment + 6% Outdoor Access + 7% Transportation + 7% LivabilityLetter Grades
After states are ranked 1–50 by composite score, each receives a letter grade based on its rank bracket:
| Grade | Rank Range |
|---|---|
| A+ | 1 – 5 |
| A | 6 – 10 |
| B+ | 11 – 18 |
| B | 19 – 26 |
| C+ | 27 – 34 |
| C | 35 – 42 |
| D | 43 – 48 |
| F | 49 – 50 |
City Scores
City-level scores are computed from real city-specific data sourced from the Census Bureau (ACS), BLS (LAUS), FBI (UCR), CDC (PLACES), BEA (RPP), and NOAA. Each city's economy, safety, health, growth, housing, fiscal, and transportation scores are calculated independently using city-level metrics such as median income, unemployment rate, crime rates, obesity/diabetes rates, home values, rent, cost of living, commute time, and transit usage. Education, environment, outdoor access, and livability scores fall back to the parent state's values when city-level data is unavailable. Data covers the top 20 most populous cities in each of the 50 states ( 1,000 cities total).