Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The US News twenty twenty five Best States Rankings, and
we're joined for a few minutes this morning by Jacqueline
Jeffrey Lensky, US News Senior data Editor, Jacqueline, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Thanks for having me, Good.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
To have you here. Good news for Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yes, indeed really good news.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Western states I noticed, tend to do pretty well.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, yes, they absolutely do.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
If you look at the top ten, there is New
Hampshire and Vermont, Massachusetts, North Carolina. That's about it. Everybody
else's is West. I wonder what accounts for that. Was
that part of the methodology to figure that kind of
thing out.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know, it's something it's a trend that actually predates
my time at US News and mould report. The Best
States Rankings has been going on since twenty seventeen, and
that's just always been the case that many Western and
Midwestern states have a strong edge. Why exactly that It's
hard to say. I will say that in many cases,
less populous states, thus dense states, do have a slight
(01:05):
advantage because when it comes to growth, it takes a
little less growth to manifest as a high percentage growth.
And apart from that, as anyone's.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Guessed Nebraska is number five overall, and we scored in
two categories. If I'm reading this right, I guess there's
one category we scored number one, and that is an
infrastructure and that I guess surprises me a little bit.
When you're looking at infrastructure in a state, primarily roads,
(01:35):
I would assume.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Right, m hm, so yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, but that doesn't Yeah, okay, I'll go along, because
we're always complaining, you know, about the condition condition of
the streets and so on.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, what's interesting is believe it or not if we
look at the road quality. So road quality is just one.
If I think about a dozen infrastructure related metrics that
factor into Nebraska's score, it also includes the reliability, the
power grid, quality of bridges, commute times, and actually internet access.
But believes or not, Nebraska actually came in sixth to
(02:11):
the road quality. That said, any ranking is only as
good as a data that goes into it, and we're
reliant on federal data and workers who do all the
hard work of cataloging every single urban and rural road
in every state, so it may not reflect the lived
reality of many hacons.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We ranked lowest Our lowest rank is in Economy twenty ninth,
which also surprises me a little bit because we have
either the lowest or second lowest unemployment rate in the
country and it's pretty prosperous cities. What goes into that
calculation on the economy.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, honestly, I thought the same thing, and looking kind
of holistically at Nebraska's stats, what I see is kind
of a story of saturation, because, like you said, Nebraska
is doing really well in labor force participation. It has
the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the nation, but it
has the second lowest job growth rate. So it may
(03:11):
not necessarily mean that the Nebraska isn't prospering, maybe simply
that its growth has kind of plateaued because of that
high rate of labor force participation. There's simply not as
many vacancies and so not as much job growth.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, it is true, and workforce development is an enormous
topic here in Nebraska, partially because of population issues as
you mentioned, and the high tech nature of a lot
of the new jobs that are needed. Iowa did pretty
well too, coming in twenty one Nebraska fifth overall. Utah
(03:47):
is a defending champion right a number one It's true.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
For three years running they are.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Number four in education, number three in the economy and infrastructure,
number one and fiscal stability. Here's Nebraska's rankings in the categories,
Ladies and gentlemen. Nebraska thirteenth in education, twenty third in healthcare,
twenty ninth in the economy, number one in infrastructure, fourteenth
(04:14):
in opportunity, sixth in fiscal stability, which is great, and
eleventh natural environment, eighteenth in crime and corrections. So all
in all are pretty good, pretty good, right, hey, Jacqueline,
thank you appreciate the time this morning. That's always interesting. Thanks,
(04:36):
happy you, bet, Jacqueline. Jeffrey Wilenski, US News Senior data
editor in kfab's morning news, Scott, are you a little
bit surprised, you know, some of these categories, like twenty
third in healthcare? You got to remember because we have
such magnificent healthcare professionals and facilities here in Omaha, and
(05:01):
I think probably I think Lincoln would qualify to but
they're looking at the whole state, yes, and the shortage
of doctors in rural areas, and I'm sure they roll
in senior care, nursing homes, that kind of thing too.
And a lot of those are under stress. That's probably
(05:21):
what accounts for that. It'd be interesting if they do,
if they did the best cities.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, true, rural Nebraska has got a couple of things,
as you noted Gary, a lack of doctors, hospitals. You
can go several miles without seeing medical professionals. But there's
also something else that's pretty thick in rural Nebraska, and
that is a whole bunch of people, especially seniors and
especially senior men, who anything happens to them and like you,
(05:49):
all right, I'm fine, and they're not going to go
see the doctor.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's true. Men are notorious. Yeah, women are running the doctor.
Good god, I mean it's good that they do. I
got to have this checked out.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Man.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Not as much with older rural Nebraska women. They're kind
of in the same way, like I'm fine, don't worry
about me.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, I'm probably atypical. I do the annual physical, A
lot of that's insurance required.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, we do that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
But I'll go if I think there's something wrong, I'll go.
What about you, Rosie'll go, Jim will go.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I don't know who my primary care physician is. Real,
that's the answer. To your question.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You know that that was kind of a revelation to me.
A few years ago during COVID, well, we were talking
a lot about, you know, should you get the shot
and shouldn't you get the shot and talk to your doctor,
and a lot of people I find they don't have
a doctor. They don't have a doctor, which was a
surprise to me. I thought everybody had because that's because
I grew up in a small town area where every
(07:00):
town had a dock. Back in the day. He was
everybody's doctor, you know.
The US News twenty twenty five Best States Rankings, and
we're joined for a few minutes this morning by Jacqueline
Jeffrey Lensky, US News Senior data Editor, Jacqueline, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, Thanks for having me, Good.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
To have you here. Good news for Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yes, indeed really good news.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Western states I noticed, tend to do pretty well.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yes, yes, they absolutely do.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
If you look at the top ten, there is New
Hampshire and Vermont, Massachusetts, North Carolina. That's about it. Everybody
else's is West. I wonder what accounts for that. Was
that part of the methodology to figure that kind of
thing out.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
You know, it's something it's a trend that actually predates
my time at US News and mould report. The Best
States Rankings has been going on since twenty seventeen, and
that's just always been the case that many Western and
Midwestern states have a strong edge. Why exactly that It's
hard to say. I will say that in many cases,
less populous states, thus dense states, do have a slight
(01:05):
advantage because when it comes to growth, it takes a
little less growth to manifest as a high percentage growth.
And apart from that, as anyone's.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Guessed Nebraska is number five overall, and we scored in
two categories. If I'm reading this right, I guess there's
one category we scored number one, and that is an
infrastructure and that I guess surprises me a little bit.
When you're looking at infrastructure in a state, primarily roads,
(01:35):
I would assume.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Right, m hm, so yes, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Okay, but that doesn't Yeah, okay, I'll go along, because
we're always complaining, you know, about the condition condition of
the streets and so on.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, what's interesting is believe it or not if we
look at the road quality. So road quality is just one.
If I think about a dozen infrastructure related metrics that
factor into Nebraska's score, it also includes the reliability, the
power grid, quality of bridges, commute times, and actually internet access.
But believes or not, Nebraska actually came in sixth to
(02:11):
the road quality. That said, any ranking is only as
good as a data that goes into it, and we're
reliant on federal data and workers who do all the
hard work of cataloging every single urban and rural road
in every state, so it may not reflect the lived
reality of many hacons.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We ranked lowest Our lowest rank is in Economy twenty ninth,
which also surprises me a little bit because we have
either the lowest or second lowest unemployment rate in the
country and it's pretty prosperous cities. What goes into that
calculation on the economy.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, honestly, I thought the same thing, and looking kind
of holistically at Nebraska's stats, what I see is kind
of a story of saturation, because, like you said, Nebraska
is doing really well in labor force participation. It has
the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the nation, but it
has the second lowest job growth rate. So it may
(03:11):
not necessarily mean that the Nebraska isn't prospering, maybe simply
that its growth has kind of plateaued because of that
high rate of labor force participation. There's simply not as
many vacancies and so not as much job growth.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, it is true, and workforce development is an enormous
topic here in Nebraska, partially because of population issues as
you mentioned, and the high tech nature of a lot
of the new jobs that are needed. Iowa did pretty
well too, coming in twenty one Nebraska fifth overall. Utah
(03:47):
is a defending champion right a number one It's true.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
For three years running they are.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Number four in education, number three in the economy and infrastructure,
number one and fiscal stability. Here's Nebraska's rankings in the categories,
Ladies and gentlemen. Nebraska thirteenth in education, twenty third in healthcare,
twenty ninth in the economy, number one in infrastructure, fourteenth
(04:14):
in opportunity, sixth in fiscal stability, which is great, and
eleventh natural environment, eighteenth in crime and corrections. So all
in all are pretty good, pretty good, right, hey, Jacqueline,
thank you appreciate the time this morning. That's always interesting. Thanks,
(04:36):
happy you, bet, Jacqueline. Jeffrey Wilenski, US News Senior data
editor in kfab's morning news, Scott, are you a little
bit surprised, you know, some of these categories, like twenty
third in healthcare? You got to remember because we have
such magnificent healthcare professionals and facilities here in Omaha, and
(05:01):
I think probably I think Lincoln would qualify to but
they're looking at the whole state, yes, and the shortage
of doctors in rural areas, and I'm sure they roll
in senior care, nursing homes, that kind of thing too.
And a lot of those are under stress. That's probably
(05:21):
what accounts for that. It'd be interesting if they do,
if they did the best cities.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, true, rural Nebraska has got a couple of things,
as you noted Gary, a lack of doctors, hospitals. You
can go several miles without seeing medical professionals. But there's
also something else that's pretty thick in rural Nebraska, and
that is a whole bunch of people, especially seniors and
especially senior men, who anything happens to them and like you,
(05:49):
all right, I'm fine, and they're not going to go
see the doctor.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
That's true. Men are notorious. Yeah, women are running the doctor.
Good god, I mean it's good that they do. I
got to have this checked out.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Man.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Not as much with older rural Nebraska women. They're kind
of in the same way, like I'm fine, don't worry
about me.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, I'm probably atypical. I do the annual physical, A
lot of that's insurance required.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, we do that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
But I'll go if I think there's something wrong, I'll go.
What about you, Rosie'll go, Jim will go.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
I don't know who my primary care physician is. Real,
that's the answer. To your question.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
You know that that was kind of a revelation to me.
A few years ago during COVID, well, we were talking
a lot about, you know, should you get the shot
and shouldn't you get the shot and talk to your doctor,
and a lot of people I find they don't have
a doctor. They don't have a doctor, which was a
surprise to me. I thought everybody had because that's because
I grew up in a small town area where every
(07:00):
town had a dock. Back in the day. He was
everybody's doctor, you know.
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