Beech Tree News Network

Kentucky’s not even close to being the best state in the country, according to a rank­ing released Tuesday.

In fact, we came in 42nd on a list put out by the U.S. News and World Report, ranking just above Alaska and Oklaho­ma in the bottom 10 states.
So what put us so low on the list? Well, here’s how the rank­ing worked.
The list took into account seven categories — from health care to economy — to determine which states “are doing best at what matters most to Americans,” accord­ing to U.S. News.
With help from consulting firm McKinsey & Company, U.S. News assembled thou­sands of data points from pub­lic documents to produce an online portal that’s searchable to anyone.
The media outlet then weighted categories based on a survey conducted by McKin­sey to determine where states should rank. Health care — the category survey participants cared most about — was weighted the highest at 18 per­cent, while government was weighted the lowest at 10 per­cent.
Kentucky has low ranks in the categories of health care, infrastructure and economy, placing it further down the full list of states than neighboring Indiana — which ranked 22 overall with high marks in the government and opportunity categories.
“It’s hard to be good at many things,” U.S. News edi­tor Brian Kelly said in an arti­cle about the project. “The val­ue of a ranking like this is we use our judgment to say, it’s not just one thing that makes a state great. It’s a combination of things. Are you serving your whole population?”
Of course, there are things about our rank that we could take issue with. Who wouldn’t want to see their state higher on the list?
But when you look through Kentucky’s statistics, it’s easi­er to remember the progress we’ve made — and the issues that still need tackling.
Kentucky ranked 8th na­tionwide in the subcategory of health insurance enrollment, with just 10.8 percent of Ken­tuckians uninsured. But it ranked 45th for public health, with high rates of infant mortality, obesity and adults who smoke cigarettes.
In its best performing cate­gory, Kentucky ranked 11th for crime and corrections — placing seventh nationwide for the state’s low violent crime rate. (In Louisville, we might beg to differ. Though we don’t want to fight a posi­tive ranking.) It’s unclear if or when the data will be updated and a new list released. But for now, Kel­ly of U.S. News said he hopes the information will help “spur behavior.”
“I’m assuming, I’m hoping, that a bunch of governors look really hard at this, raise some questions, some state legisla­tors get engaged,” Kelly said in the article. “... We think, across the board, transparen­cy and some light on these is­sues is very valuable.”
For a closer look at Ken­tucky’s data, visit us­news. com/news/best-states/ kentucky.

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Date: 03-01-2017

By Bailey Loosemore
The Courier-Journal

Kentucky Press News Service