Book excerpt: State Rankings features comprehensive state statistics making it easy to compare states across key measures in education, health, crime, transportation, taxes, government finance, and so much more. The editors compile useful statistics that would otherwise take an enormous amount of time to research making it a favorite resource on reference shelves throughout the United States and around the world. The rankings have been updated using specific methodology explained in the introduction. Geographic and data notes are also included to provide context.State Rankings compares every state and Washington, DC, in the following areas: - Agriculture- Population- Economy- Environment- Government finance- Crime- Education- Geography- Social welfare- Defense- Health- Energy- Housing