COLUMBUS, Ohio (WOWO) — Ohio has fallen into the bottom 10 states in the country in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, coming in at No. 42 overall.

The 2026 ranking marks Ohio’s third consecutive decline. The state ranked No. 38 in 2025 and No. 36 in 2024.

The annual U.S. News study evaluates all 50 states across eight broad categories: education, health care, economy, infrastructure, opportunity, fiscal stability, natural environment, and crime and corrections.

Ohio’s overall No. 42 ranking puts it behind several neighboring states, including Indiana at No. 30, Pennsylvania at No. 40 and Kentucky at No. 41.

Only West Virginia and Michigan ranked lower than Ohio among states in the region, with West Virginia at No. 44 and Michigan at No. 46.

The rankings offer a mixed picture of Ohio’s performance.

The state’s strongest showing was in opportunity, where Ohio ranked No. 18 nationally.

Ohio also ranked No. 28 in fiscal stability and No. 29 in education.

Its other category rankings included No. 31 in infrastructure, No. 36 in health care and No. 37 in crime and corrections.

Ohio’s weakest scores came in the natural environment, where it ranked No. 43, and the economy, where it ranked No. 38.

The categories are not weighted equally in determining the overall ranking. Education carries the greatest weight at 15.79%, followed closely by health care at 15.51%.

Natural environment accounts for 9.69% of the overall calculation, while crime and corrections carries the smallest weight at 9.01%.

The U.S. News results come just weeks after a very different national assessment of Ohio’s business climate.

CNBC ranked Ohio as its No. 1 state for business for 2026, a result Gov. Mike DeWine cited as evidence of the state’s economic competitiveness.

DeWine said at the time that the CNBC ranking “proves that Ohio is the best place in America for business” and pointed to jobs, quality of life and opportunity as benefits associated with that ranking.

The contrasting assessments underscore how much a state’s position can change depending on what is being measured.

The U.S. News study looks well beyond business conditions, incorporating measures related to education, health care, infrastructure, public safety, fiscal health, the environment and economic conditions.

At the top of this year’s U.S. News list is Utah.

The Beehive State has now ranked No. 1 for four consecutive years.

Utah’s strongest performances were in fiscal stability and the economy, where it ranked No. 2 nationally in both categories. It also placed fourth in infrastructure.

Utah’s weakest category was natural environment, where it ranked No. 48.

Louisiana remained at the bottom of the overall rankings for the third consecutive year.

Louisiana ranked last nationally in crime and corrections and No. 49 in both the economy and natural environment. Its strongest category was fiscal stability, where it ranked No. 43.

For Ohio, the latest ranking represents a continued slide from the middle of the pack.

The state has dropped six positions in the U.S. News rankings since 2024, moving from No. 36 to No. 42.

Despite the overall decline, the rankings show areas where Ohio performs substantially better than its overall position suggests — particularly opportunity, education and fiscal stability.

The results also highlight areas where the state continues to face challenges, including its economy, health care, public safety measures and natural environment.

The U.S. News ranking is one assessment of state performance and uses a methodology that combines multiple categories rather than measuring a single aspect of quality of life or economic strength.

That helps explain why Ohio can rank near the bottom overall in the U.S. News study while receiving a top national ranking for business from CNBC earlier this year.