See Which States Top the 'Camelot Index'

Just about every news outlet thrives on releasing a never-ending stream of rankings of cities and states. The trend is best exemplified by Forbes, which has told us that Utah is the best state for business, Texas is the top state for jobs, and Vermont is the healthiest state.

But one study offers the grandaddy of all state rankings system: the Camelot Index. 

The annual report appears this week in State Policy Reports, a newsletter published by Federal Funds Information for States, which tracks federal budget and spending information for state leaders. 

As FFIS writes, the index is "based on the premise that most people share a common set of preferences: fewer taxes are better than more, small class sizes are better than large, low death rates are better than high, less crime is better than more and so on."

The index contains 25 different metrics that are used to analyze states in six different categories that are weighted equally: economic health, residents' health, education, crime, state government prudence, and the health of society -- with includes factors like home ownership and voting rates. 

A state that performed better than all others in every category would have an index score of 1, and a state that was the worst in all categories would have an index of 50.

North Dakota was the top-ranked state, with a Camelot Index of 7.0*. That's no surprise, given the state's booming economy due to the oil industry as well as its relatively low crime rates.

Rounding out the top five are South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nebraska and Wyoming.

The authors note that the states with the highest scores are among the least populated states in the country, and large numbers of people are not choosing to live there.

Louisiana has the lowest score of 41.0, largely due to poor marks for residents' health and crime rates. Oklahoma has made the most progress in recent years, advancing 11 slots in the aggregate ranking since 2007.

The authors also note that, given North Dakota's score, it's clear that no state is near perfect. 

Rank	State	Camelot Index
1	North Dakota	7.0
2	South Dakota	9.5
3	New Hampshire	10.0
4	Nebraska	11.3
5	Wyoming	11.7
6	Iowa	12.2
7	Minnesota	12.7
8	Virginia	13.3
9	Idaho	13.7
10	Wisconsin	14.2
11	Utah	15.2
11	Vermont	15.2
13	Connecticut	17.0
14	Colorado	17.2
15	Washington	17.7
16	Massachusetts	18.3
16	Montana	18.3
18	New Jersey	19.7
19	Oregon	21.0
20	Maine	22.3
21	Alaska	23.8
22	Pennsylvania	24.2
23	Maryland	25.7
23	Missouri	25.7
25	Illinois	26.5
26	Kansas	27.3
27	North Carolina	27.5
28	Hawaii	28.0
29	New York	28.2
30	Rhode Island	28.7
31	Texas	29.2
32	Delaware	30.2
33	California	30.3
34	Oklahoma	31.2
35	West Virginia	31.3
36	Florida	32.5
37	Georgia	33.8
37	Indiana	33.8
39	Ohio	34.0
40	Michigan	35.8
41	Nevada	36.3
42	Kentucky	36.7
43	Mississippi	37.3
44	Alabama	37.5
45	Tennessee	38.0
46	Arkansas	38.2
47	Arizona	38.5
47	South Carolina	38.5
49	New Mexico	39.2
50	Louisiana	41.0

Note: A previous version of this article contained slightly different index figures due to an error in FFIS's initial report. FFIS has corrected its study, and this article reflects its updated numbers.