Iowa’s slippage doesn’t stop Big Ten from blowing away SEC in national rankings

The just-released 2025 U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. states wasn’t great news for Iowa, but it was a lot worse for the Southeastern Conference.

Iowa tumbled in the annual ranking from No. 6 last year to 14th in 2025. The magazine said “The state suffered most prominently in the natural environment category, where it saw a large increase in the number of days with poor air quality. But Iowa also fell in the more heavily weighted categories of economy and health care, with declines in metrics like GDP and job growth and a tick up in others such as infant mortality rate.”

Being in the Top 20 still is pretty good, one could say. You’d rather be No. 6 than No. 14, though. That’s an unusually large drop in this particular ranking.

Of the 14 states with Big Ten schools, Iowa is fourth. Minnesota is tops, at No. 4. Nebraska is No. 5. Last year, Nebraska was third, Minnesota fourth.

Washington is No. 10. Then comes Iowa at 14th. Wisconsin is 17th, New Jersey 19th, Maryland 20th, Indiana 33rd, Oregon 35th, Illinois 36th, California 37th, Ohio 38th, Pennsylvania 41st and Michigan 43rd.

As a grouping, Big Ten states are paradise compared to the SEC. When they say “It just means more,” in SEC country as they like to do, they’re talking about football (and now men’s basketball) rather than education, health care, fiscal stability, infrastructure, opportunity or natural environment.

Florida ranks No. 6, but after that it’s rough. Georgia is 21st, Texas 29th, Missouri 31st, Tennessee 32nd, Kentucky 39th, South Carolina 40th, Oklahoma 42nd, Arkansas 44th, Alabama 45th, Mississippi 48th and Louisiana 50th.

No. 1 again this year is Utah, which has been annexed by the Big 12. The rest of its states are No. 6 Florida, No. 11 Colorado, No. 14 Iowa, Kansas at 25th, Texas 29th, Arizona 30th, Ohio 38th, Oklahoma 42nd and West Virginia 46th.