State Rankings

Executive Brief Introduction National HighlightsFindingsHealth Outcomes Social and Economic Factors Clinical Care Behaviors State RankingsAppendixMeasures Table – Women Measures Table – Children Data Source Descriptions MethodologyState Summaries

US Summary

2023 Health of Women and Children Report – Executive Brief 2023 Health of Women and Children Report 2023 Health of Women and Children Report – State Summaries 2023 Health of Women and Children Report – Concentrated Disadvantage County-Level Maps 2023 Health of Women and Children Report – Measures Table 2023 Health of Women and Children Report – Infographics 2023 Health of Women and Children Report – Report Data (All States)

Rankings included in the 2023 Health of Women and Children Report are derived from 83 measures across five categories of health: social and economic factors, physical environment, behaviors, clinical care and health outcomes. For a more detailed description of how the overall rank is calculated, visit the America’s Health Rankings Methodology page. 
Minnesota Ranks No. 1
Minnesota is the healthiest state in this year’s report for both women and children. It ranks among the top five states in social and economic factors (No. 1), physical environment (No. 4), behaviors (No. 2) and health outcomes (No. 3). Minnesota is number 15 in clinical care.
Strengths: Low infant mortality rate, high prevalence of high school completion and high voter participation among women. 
Challenges: High prevalence of excessive drinking among women, high racial disparity among children in poverty and low prevalence of well-woman visits.
Massachusetts (No. 2), Vermont (No. 3), New Hampshire (No. 4) and Hawaii (No. 5) complete the top five healthiest states.
Mississippi Ranks No. 50
Mississippi is the least healthy state in this year’s report, ranking number 50 for children and number 48 for women. It ranks in the bottom five states in social and economic factors (No. 46), physical environment (No. 50), behaviors (No. 49) and health outcomes (No. 47). Mississippi is number 41 in clinical care.
Strengths: High enrollment in early childhood education, high prevalence of well-woman visits and low prevalence of excessive drinking among women.
Challenges: High infant mortality rate, high mortality rate among women ages 20-44 and high percentage of children in poverty.
Arkansas (No. 49), Louisiana (No. 48), Oklahoma (No. 47) and West Virginia (No. 46) complete the five least healthy states.
This graph displays the state scores in order of rank, with the least healthy states on the left and the healthiest states on the right. The distance between bars shows the difference between state scores. For example, Louisiana (No. 48) and Oklahoma (No. 47), while close in ranking, have a sizable difference in score, meaning a lot of progress would need to be made in order for Louisiana to improve its score and move up in the rankings. There is also a large gap in score between Illinois (No. 15) and the next highest state, Virginia (No. 14).
To further explore state-level data, see Explore Data. The website features downloadable State Summaries for each state and the District of Columbia. Each summary describes state-specific strengths, challenges, trends and rankings for individual measures, allowing users to identify which measures positively or negatively influenced each state’s overall rank. This can be visualized by selecting a state in the Explore Data section. The website also features an Adjust My Rank tool that allows users to explore how progress and challenges across key measures can affect a state’s overall rank. 

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