Maryland moved up seven spots in this year’s ranking of the U.S. News & World Report’s third annual rundown of the best states in the nation, moving up to the 6th best state to live in for 2019, up from 13th last year.

The Best States rankings show how each of the 50 U.S. states ranks in 71 metrics across eight categories. The data behind the rankings aims to show how well states serve their residents in various ways.  In calculating the rankings, each category was assigned weightings based on the average of three years of data from an annual national survey that asked a total of more than 50,000 people to prioritize each subject in their state.

In individual categories, Maryland ranked as follows.

● Crime & Corrections: 22

● Economy: 26

● Education: 13

● Fiscal Stability: 15

● Health Care: 8

● Infrastructure: 21

● Natural Environment: 25

● Opportunity: 5

The five states ranking ahead of Maryland on the overall list were, from first to fifth, Washington, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah and Vermont; rounding out the top 10, from sixth the tenth, were Virginia, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Colorado.

For the complete list, visit www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings.