Connecticut 12th in national "best states" report

The coveted USA Today report of the best and worst states to live in has been published, and Connecticut can be proud - and a little worried. There's work to do.

Our neighbor to the north, Massachusetts, ranked first overall including first in education, second in healthcare, and fifth for the economy. New Hampshire was #2, Rhode Island #21, New York #17, and New Jersey #2. Impressively, the Garden State came in second for education.

We ranked #12 overall on the list, coming up highest for education at #4, #8 for crime and corrections, and #12 in healthcare. However, we won't write home about our economy - we're only #38, with a dismal #44 for GDP growth. Yin and yang: while we're #2 for gender equality -- yah! -- we're only #48 for our disability employment rate. Another downer? Our roads are ranked at the end of the pack, 50th in the Union. We can do better.

With education and healthcare so highly ranked, though, there is obviously room for improvement. The state can continue to attract top talent from and to our institutions - Yale and UConn namely - to buttress areas of the economy that can use work.

President Trump is trumpeting infrastructure improvement nationwide. So far nothing concrete has been established, but if he comes through, this could help bolster economic growth in the state.

Photos: (top) Milford, Conn. (bottom) West Haven, Conn. by the author. To contact the author visit www.lauriewiegler.com