The bipartisan State of the Nation Project has collected extensive data on Washington and compared it with other states. Below we provide a brief progress report that shows the state rank and trend for each measure.
Washington ranks higher, on average, on the topics of Economy (2), Trust (5), and Children and Families (9), but lower on Civil Liberties (33), Work and Labor Force (36), and Mental Health (44). Washington also outperforms its West neighbors in 0 of the 14 topics and is improving over time on 10 of the 31 measures.
Washington Summary Table
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Children & FamiliesState
TrendState
Rank-
Child Mortality15
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Low Birthweight4
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Youth Depression36
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Children Living With Single Parent8
-
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Citizenship & DemocracyState
TrendState
Rank-
Voter Participation13
-
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Civil LibertiesState
TrendState
Rank-
Freedom of the Press33
-
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EconomyState
TrendState
Rank-
Economic Output9
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Productivity1
-
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EducationState
TrendState
Rank-
Academic Test Scores21
-
Average Years of Education11
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Young Adults Employed or in School26
-
-
EnvironmentState
TrendState
Rank-
Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions20
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Air Quality9
-
-
InequalityState
TrendState
Rank-
Income Inequality26
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Poverty19
-
-
Life SatisfactionState
TrendState
Rank-
Satisfaction with Current Life28
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Social Isolation13
-
-
Mental HealthState
TrendState
Rank-
Depression47
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Fatal Overdoses42
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Suicide Rate28
-
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Physical HealthState
TrendState
Rank-
Life Expectancy12
-
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Social CapitalState
TrendState
Rank-
Volunteerism21
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Trust in Other People7
-
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TrustState
TrendState
Rank-
Trust in the Federal Government14
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Trust in Science6
-
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ViolenceState
TrendState
Rank-
Murder Rate19
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Shootings18
-
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Work & Labor ForceState
TrendState
Rank-
Employment-to-Population Ratio (EPOP)37
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Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)36
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Long-Term Unemployment Rate46
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Hourly Earnings Growth11
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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.
