Publication gives Florida sunny economic outlook

The Sunshine State didn’t receive an overly sunny view in the U.S. News and World Report’s inaugural best states rankings, but Florida did fare well in one aspect: economy.

In measuring states’ economic stability and potential, the report released this week had Florida seventh in its economy rankings, which is especially notable considering the state was hammered by the Great Recession as well as a housing crisis that led to thousands of mortgage foreclosures.

Using 68 metrics across seven quality-of-life categories, Florida was ranked 24th overall, with economy and government (ninth) the only sections to finish in the Top 10.

“When you look at the usual suspects that people always talk about — California, Texas, Florida — they don’t do so well,’’ Brian Kelly, the editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said in the report.

Massachusetts, behind strong rankings in education (first) and health care (second), finished first. California was 23rd and Texas was 38th. Last was Louisiana, which finished no better than 39th in any of the seven categories.

“You have a healthy economy, but is everybody in the state participating in that economy?” Kelly said.

Among economy subcategories, Florida was first in entrepreneurship, second in net migration, third in growth, fourth in job growth, fifth in GDP growth and growth of young population, and sixth in business environment.

Meanwhile, Florida was 28th in low unemployment rate (4.9 percent), 37th in employment and 45th in labor force participation.

“It’s a lot of things that matter,” Kelly said.

Here’s how Florida finished in the other five quality-of-life categories:

▪ 11th in infrastructure.

▪ 29th in education.

▪ 31st in health care.

▪ 37th in crime and corrections.

▪ 43rd in opportunity.

Florida was easily the highest-ranked state in the Southeast among economic stability and potential, with Georgia (14th), South Carolina (16th) and North Carolina (17th) the only others in the Top 25.

According to U.S. News and World Report assistant managing editor Mark Silva, the publication for the first time sought to take a look at which states are performing best for their citizens.

“As many balances of power shift from Washington, D.C., to the states, it’s essential to understand which states are doing best at what matters most to Americans,” Silva wrote.

“In a union such as this, each state has something to learn from the others. Some have better health care, some better education, some more economic opportunity for their citizenry. Drawing any comparisons should be more than a matter of bragging rights. It requires clear-eyed measures to make real judgments.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Publication gives Florida sunny economic outlook."