Since 1974, U.S. News & World Report has been well known for its ever-growing list of the rankings of best hospitals, colleges, universities, high schools, credit cards, jobs, cruise ships, Medicare plans, countries and more. The magazine recently released its rankings of the 50 states. New Jersey came in at the 20th spot.

Of all the categories considered in the ranking process, education was the most highly weighted category at 15.79%.