The bipartisan State of the Nation Project has collected extensive data on California and compared it with other states. Below we provide a brief progress report that shows the state rank and trend for each measure.
California ranks higher, on average, on the topics of Economy (1), Trust (3), Mental Health (3), and Children and Families (3), but lower on Work and Labor Force (48), Inequality (49), and Environment (50). California also outperforms its West neighbors in 3 of the 14 topics and is improving over time on 9 of the 31 measures.
California Summary Table
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Children & FamiliesState
TrendState
Rank-
Child Mortality7
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Low Birthweight11
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Youth Depression10
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Children Living With Single Parent19
-
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Citizenship & DemocracyState
TrendState
Rank-
Voter Participation32
-
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Civil LibertiesState
TrendState
Rank-
Freedom of the Press44
-
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EconomyState
TrendState
Rank-
Economic Output1
-
Productivity2
-
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EducationState
TrendState
Rank-
Academic Test Scores41
-
Average Years of Education39
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Young Adults Employed or in School26
-
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EnvironmentState
TrendState
Rank-
Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions50
-
Air Quality44
-
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InequalityState
TrendState
Rank-
Income Inequality47
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Poverty51
-
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Life SatisfactionState
TrendState
Rank-
Satisfaction with Current Life22
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Social Isolation48
-
-
Mental HealthState
TrendState
Rank-
Depression3
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Fatal Overdoses17
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Suicide Rate8
-
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Physical HealthState
TrendState
Rank-
Life Expectancy5
-
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Social CapitalState
TrendState
Rank-
Volunteerism43
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Trust in Other People38
-
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TrustState
TrendState
Rank-
Trust in the Federal Government3
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Trust in Science8
-
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ViolenceState
TrendState
Rank-
Murder Rate23
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Shootings7
-
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Work & Labor ForceState
TrendState
Rank-
Employment-to-Population Ratio (EPOP)42
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Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)38
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Long-Term Unemployment Rate48
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Hourly Earnings Growth43
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How to Read This Report:
We report each measure three different ways: State Rank, State Trend, State vs. US Trend. Each result is color coded as either red (negative/worsening), yellow (neutral/stable), or green (positive/improving), as indicated below. If the simple trends were erratic, had too few data points, or had no data points, we do not color code and label the trend as “mixed,” "unclear," or "NA," respectively.
State Rank
(Where are we now?)
State Trend
(Where are we going?)
State vs. US Trend
(How do we compare?)
Top third of states
(i.e., ranks 1-17)
Improving
Trendline is improving by >5% and most points are improving relative to the first data point.
Improving
Trendline is improving relative to the national trend and rank is improving by 2+ rank spots.
Middle third of states
(i.e., ranks 18-34)
Neutral/Stable
Doesn't fall into improving, worsening, mixed, unclear, or NA categories.
Neutral/Stable
Trendline is improving/worsening the same amount as the national trend or rank is changing by <2 spots.
Bottom third of states
(i.e., ranks 35-51)
Worsening
Trendline is worsening by >5% and most points are worsening relative to the first data point.
Worsening
Trendline is worsening relative to national trend and rank is declining by 2+ rank spots
Mixed
Large shares of points are improving and worsening by >5% in different parts of the trend.
Mixed
This label only applies when a measure has more than 1 trendline. One trendline is improving and another is worsening.
Unclear
Not enough data to determine a trend.
Unclear
Not enough data to determine a comparison.
Not Applicable
No data.
Not Applicable
No data.
Not Applicable
No data.
For more information on our definitions and methods, please see the Data Notes section.
