Virginia among the nation's best states according to new survey

While we’re biased and would rank the Commonwealth as the best state, we’ll take #7, which is where the U.S. News & World Report ranked Virginia in its annual “Best States” survey.

The survey ranks states based on 70 metrics, including education, health care, the economy, public safety, roads and the state government’s fiscal health.

Most impressively, Virginia placed 20th in 2018, meaning the state jumped 13 spots in this year’s rankings.

Virginia’s placement is thanks to is largely due to its comparatively strong educational system, availability of opportunities, and fiscal stability.

Areas for improvement include its healthcare system, as 12% of adults in Virginia are uninsured. That number is expected to fall thanks to the state’s recent Medicaid expansion.

The state’s infrastructure was also poorly ranked, though that’s likely to change thanks to the recent I-81 funding deal and additional efforts by legislators to get more funding for infrastructure.

As for the rest of the country, Washington state ranked number one on the list, while New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah and Vermont rounded out the top five.