“It is no secret that Florida has had its share of struggles with hurricanes, population growth and a host of other challenges,” said Scott Morgan, President of Morgan Quitno Press. “However Floridians should take pride in knowing that their state is not resting on its laurels and instead is making progress. It has worked hard to earn this year’s title as Morgan Quitno’s Most Improved State.”

The Most Improved State Award is based on 12 factors selected from the 3rd Edition State Trends. This honor recognizes a state for improvements made over the past decade in several key quality-of-life factors. This year’s factors relate to education outcomes, energy, state government spending, prisons and corrections, highways and public health. These differ from the factors considered in last year’s Most Improved State competition and thus rankings for the two years are not comparable.

“This award is unique because it does not reflect which states perform best in the factors chosen,” said Morgan. “Instead, it identifies those states that have made the most improvement in 10 years time.”

Rounding out the top five spots with Florida are (in descending order) New York, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia. Bringing up the opposite end of the rankings scale with Oklahoma are South Dakota in 49th, New Mexico in 48th, Maine in 47th and North Dakota in 46th place.

The Most Improved State Award is one of six designations announced annually by Morgan Quitno Press. The company's other annual announcements designate the nation’s Safest and Most Dangerous City and Metro Area (based on data from City Crime Rankings), the Most Livable State (based on data from State Rankings), the Healthiest State (based on data from Health Care State Rankings) the Smartest State (based on data from Education State Rankings) and the Safest and Most Dangerous States (based on data from Crime State Rankings). Each award or designation is based on data from annual Morgan Quitno reference publications.

A listing of the Most Improved State Award’s 12 factors, rankings of all 50 states for each factor and an explanation of the methodology are available from Morgan Quitno Press via the Internet at www.statestats.com or by calling 785-841-3534.  It should be noted that the new ranking is not comparable to previous years' Most Improved State awards as the factors are different.

Morgan Quitno Press is an independent private research and publishing company located in Lawrence, Kansas. Founded in 1989, the company specializes in reference books and monthly reports that compare states and cities in several different subject areas. The corporation is not a subsidiary of any other company nor is it subsidized by any outside interest group. Its books are found in reference libraries throughout the United States and around the world.

#####