What the top 10 states in America for 2018 have in common

Iowa is now considered the overall best state in America, according to the U.S. News & World Report's second annual "Best States" rankings.

Iowa tops the list thanks to its strong performance in the categories of infrastructure, opportunity and access to high-quality health care, data from U.S. News & World Report and McKinsey & Company found.

"All of the top 10 states rank among the top half for health care and education, two areas that are most important for people across the country," Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News & World Report, tells CNBC Make It in a statement.

Most of the states that crack the top 10 rank highly in education and are considered geographically and politically diverse, spanning most regions of the country.

The "Best States" rankings are based on 77 metrics across the following eight categories: health care, education, economy, opportunity, infrastructure, crime & corrections, fiscal stability and quality of life.

Each category was assigned a weight based on the average of two years of data from McKinsey's annual "citizen experience" survey, which asked a total of more than 30,000 people to prioritize each subject in their state.

Here are the top 10 states and their highest ranking categories, according to the 2018 U.S. News & World Report:

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, health care quality, higher education, pre-k through 12 education, employment, affordability, broadband access and energy.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, public health, pre-k through 12 education, employment, economic opportunity, broadband access, energy, transportation and social environment.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care quality, public health, higher education, business environment, employment, economic growth, economic opportunity, broadband access, transportation, corrections, short-term fiscal stability, and social environment

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care quality, higher education, employment, economic opportunity, broadband access, energy, short-term fiscal stability, natural environment and social environment.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, pre-k through 12 education, employment, economic opportunity, equality, corrections, public safety and social environment.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, health care quality, public health, higher education, business environment, economic growth, broadband access, energy and natural environment.

Also in the top 10 best states for: higher education, employment, affordability and energy

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, public health, pre-k through 12 education, business environment, employment, economic opportunity, corrections and natural environment.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care access, pre-k through 12 education, equality, public safety and long-term fiscal stability.

Also in the top 10 best states for: health care quality, public health, higher education, business environment, employment, economic growth and natural environment.

For those who are looking to make a big change and move to another country, here are the 10 best countries in the world to move to in 2018.

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