New Hampshire Named One of the Best States in America Again

If you live in New Hampshire, here's another reason to feel pretty good about calling the Granite State home.

U.S. News & World Report just released its 2026 Best States rankings, and New Hampshire landed at No. 6 in the entire country.

Now, technically, that's a little bit of a drop. New Hampshire had been sitting all the way up at No. 2. But when you're still ranked sixth out of all 50 states, and you're the highest-ranked state in New England, there's still plenty to brag about.

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New Hampshire Is the Safest State in America

Here's where New Hampshire really stands out.

The Granite State ranked No. 1 in the country for Crime & Corrections, a category that looks at things including public safety, violent crime, incarceration rates and corrections outcomes.

New Hampshire ranked No. 1 specifically for crime and No. 3 for corrections outcomes.

Adult incarceration, juvenile incarceration and violent crime rates in New Hampshire are all below the national average.

That's a pretty significant quality-of-life factor when you're talking about the best places in America to live and raise a family.

New Hampshire's Outdoors Help Too

Anyone who's spent a summer at the Seacoast, driven through the White Mountains in October or disappeared into the woods for a weekend probably won't be surprised by this one.

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New Hampshire ranked No. 3 in America for Natural Environment.

Only Hawaii and South Dakota finished ahead of us.

The category looks at things like air and water quality and pollution. New Hampshire ranked an impressive No. 2 nationally when it comes to pollution.

The mountains, lakes, forests and relatively clean surroundings actually matter in these rankings.

Where Else Did New Hampshire Rank?
U.S. News evaluated states using 71 different metrics across eight major categories.

Here's how New Hampshire performed:

Crime & Corrections: No. 1

Natural Environment: No. 3

Opportunity: No. 6

Health Care: No. 9

Education: No. 12

Infrastructure: No. 18

Economy: No. 32

Fiscal Stability: No. 36

There are some interesting numbers buried inside those categories, too.

New Hampshire ranked No. 1 in the country for economic opportunity and No. 4 for equality.

Being a new resident to the Granite State, I now know this to be true. We don't need a national ranking to tell us: living here isn't cheap.

New Hampshire ranked just 41st for affordability. I got here and immediately had to ask my company for a raise.  That was awkward.  That didn't go well for me.

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Education Is a Mixed Bag
New Hampshire also continues to perform very well when it comes to younger students.

The state ranked No. 4 nationally for Pre-K through 12th-grade education.

Higher education is a much different story.

New Hampshire came in at No. 40 for higher education, with college costs, state support and student debt among the issues weighing down the overall education ranking.

Put the two together and New Hampshire finishes No. 12 overall for education.

There's One Surprising Weak Spot
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the rankings is New Hampshire's economy.

The state came in at just No. 32 nationally for economy, including No. 13 for employment and No. 19 for business environment.

The real drag was economic growth, where New Hampshire ranked 49th out of 50 states.

U.S. News pointed toward relatively low job growth and venture capital investment as some of the factors behind that number.

Infrastructure was another mixed bag.

New Hampshire ranked No. 1 in America for internet access, but fell to No. 39 for energy and No. 41 for transportation.

Anyone who's ever tried to get around New Hampshire without a car probably understands that last one.

New Hampshire Is Still No. 1 in New England
Here's where the regional bragging rights come in.

New Hampshire finished ahead of every other New England state.

The 2026 overall rankings have:

New Hampshire – No. 6

Vermont – No. 10

Massachusetts – No. 11

Connecticut – No. 18

Maine – No. 27

Rhode Island – No. 33

Utah was named the best state in America for the fourth consecutive year, followed by South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota and Nebraska.

Then comes New Hampshire.

So, did the Granite State lose a little ground from its previous No. 2 ranking? Sure.

But No. 6 in America, No. 1 in New England, the safest state in the country and one of the top three states for natural environment?

We'll take it.