State scorecard
Minnesota in the US Political Rank
Every place Minnesota holds across our state rankings, in one scorecard. Economy, taxes, education, crime, healthcare, and more, each measured the same way for all 50 states and each linked to the full cited ranking.
#7
of 50 on States Ranked by Health Care Outcomes
#43
of 50 on States Ranked by Total Tax Burden
33.8%
Governor Tim Walz performance score, rank 44 of 50
9
state rankings that score Minnesota
Governor
Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz (Democrat), holds performance rank 44 of 50 at 33.8% this week in the Governor Performance Rankings, scored on 263 metrics and updated every Monday.
| Ranking | Minnesota's place | Score |
|---|---|---|
| States Ranked by Health Care OutcomesA long-running top-ten Commonwealth Fund performer and a top-three state on the Fund's 2025 Medicare beneficiary scorecard (Commonwealth Fund, 2025). | #7 of 50 | 92.2 |
| States Ranked by K-12 Education OutcomesTop five in eighth grade math in 2024 (Learning Policy Institute, 2025). A caution in the data: demographically adjusted analyses place Minnesota far lower, around the national middle (Urban Institute, 2025). | #8 of 50 | 92.2 |
| States Ranked by Business Climate: What the Major Raters Agree OnTenth with CNBC on education, health, and quality-of-life metrics (CNBC, 2025), despite a tax code the Tax Foundation has long graded near the bottom third (Tax Foundation, 2026). The two raters disagree about Minnesota more than almost any state. | #12 of 25 | 84.9 |
| The 2026 Battleground States, RankedTwo open statewide races: Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the Senate contest to Leans Democratic after Tina Smith's retirement, and Tim Walz's exit opened the governorship (Sabato's Crystal Ball, 2026; Race to the WH, 2026). Minnesota has not voted Republican for president since 1972, but its 2024 margin of 4.3 points was among the closest in decades (official returns). | #13 of 15 | 5.8 |
| Voting With Their Feet: States Ranked by Migration and Population GrowthThe reversal story of the year: from a net domestic loss of 204 people in 2024 to a net gain of about 8,300 in 2025, the largest swing of any state (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). | #15 of 50 | 76.0 |
| States Ranked by Violent Crime Rate256.6 per 100,000 with a murder rate of 2.9, roughly 29 percent below the national violent crime rate (FBI, 2024). | #18 of 50 | 256.6 |
| Ranking the 50 State Economies of 2026Tenth on CNBC's 2025 Top States for Business (CNBC, 2025) and the owner of 2025's most notable migration reversal, flipping from a 204-person domestic loss to an 8,300-person gain (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). | #20 of 50 | 76.6 |
| States Ranked by Dependence on Federal MoneyConsistently near the bottom of per-dollar returns in the Rockefeller series, a high-income state whose federal tax payments largely offset its receipts (Rockefeller Institute, 2025). | #41 of 50 | 51.4 |
| States Ranked by Total Tax BurdenOne of the highest top marginal income tax rates in the nation and a perennial bottom-third finisher on the Tax Foundation's competitiveness index (Tax Foundation, 2026). | #43 of 50 | 42.2 |
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