Affordability is weighing California down in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best States Rankings, which revealed who is outperforming in areas like health care access and math test scores — and who is coming in dead last.

California is both leading and lagging in the latest rankings unveiled on Tuesday, July 28.

The rankings are an assessment of how each state performs based on numerous metrics across the following categories:

California ranked 35th overall in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best States Rankings. It’s a small improvement from last year’s ranking, which placed the sprawling state at No. 37.

The state leads in areas such as higher education, health care quality, its business environment and internet access. But it comes dead last in the broad category of opportunity, including under its subcategory of affordability that looks to metrics like the cost of living and housing affordability, according to U.S. News & World Report.

It comes as California home prices continue to be much more expensive than the rest of the nation, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said on July 20. Prices for mid-tier homes — about $775,000 — are more than twice as expensive as the typical mid-tier U.S. home, according to the LAO.

Also at play: California’s cost of living was about 11% above the national average in 2024, according to the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The Living Wage Calculator shows what a person working full time must earn hourly to cover basic needs — including food, housing and health care — in their area without depending on public or private assistance. The living wage is $30.48 for an adult with no children in California, based on living wage data sourced from the Living Wage Institute via https://livingwage.mit.edu.