Colorado officials said they have something to celebrate this week, in addition to the state’s sesquicentennial birthday on Saturday.

U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday gave Colorado its top ranking for education efforts from pre-K to postsecondary, though it didn’t fare well in other areas, such as health access and crime.

Gov. Jared Polis celebrated the announcement with a trip to the Farrell B. Howell ECE-8 School in east Denver. 

U.S. News & World Report issued its annual best states rankings on Tuesday.

Colorado earned its first place in education based on “increases in associate degree completion and attainment rates, as well as substantial growth in preschool enrollment enabled by the Colorado Universal Preschool program.”

For this year’s report, Colorado ranked ninth in pre-K and third in higher education. 

In an interview with Colorado Politics, Polis pointed to six different accomplishments — early education, better funding for K-12, school choice, after-school programs, outcome tracking and workforce training — that moved Colorado from 11th place overall in 2019 to third place two years ago to first place this week. 

The governor said programs targeting early education have been key, notably expanding universal preschool and taxpayer-funded full-day kindergarten. These programs have received significant support through state funding and voter-approved initiatives.

He noted better funding for K-12 education. The state “owed” a $1 billion debt to K-12 beginning in 2010, a shortfall that wasn’t fully repaid until two years ago. Polis pointed to that payoff — along with allowing general fund support for mill levy equalization for charter schools, which ensures charter students receive the same level of funding as other public school students — as a factor. He also cited Healthy School Meals for All, which provides free meals to public school students, as part of that success.

The governor also noted the expansion of school choice, which he said gives parents the ability to select the public or charter school that best fits their children’s needs. Polis said about 40% of families now use that option. Having spent years helping develop charter schools and serving on the state Board of Education, he called that authority “magical.”

He cited investment in after-school and summer programs. Education doesn’t stop at 3 p.m. or in May, Polis said Tuesday. That investment was partly put in jeopardy with a bill in the 2026 session that would have stripped $1.75 million for nonprofits that provide after-school programs, but Polis vetoed the measure. 

Data collection and outcome tracking have also been central to Polis’ approach. In his first year in office, the state strengthened the READ Act to emphasize phonics-based, evidence-backed reading instruction and improve teacher preparation. Polis said Tuesday that 32,000 teachers have now been trained on high-quality curriculum, helping push Colorado into the top five states for literacy. The state has also developed “evidence-informed training” to help educators better support students learning math, including strategies for those below grade level, students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

Higher education and postsecondary workforce training have also expanded, the governor said. A record number of high school students are now enrolled in dual or concurrent programs, allowing them to earn college credit while still in high school — with tuition typically covered by the state or their school district.

Colorado has also added two years of free community college for students from families earning under $90,000 a year. According to the administration, 65,000 high school students in 2025 earned some form of postsecondary credit or credential, completed an apprenticeship or took part in other meaningful work-based learning. Colorado’s efforts also included the 2021 launch of Finish What You Started, which helps students who made progress toward a degree but didn’t finish obtain the remaining credits they need. The Department of Higher Education reported that more than 2,500 credentials have been completed through the program, even though it sunset on June 30.

U.S. News & World Report evaluated 71 metrics across eight categories, each weighted to produce an overall ranking. Colorado placed 17th.

The rankings draw on data from multiple years and sources. Two-year college graduation rates, for example, were based on the 2021 cohort — students who graduated in 2023. Preschool enrollment, an area where Colorado scored well, used 2024 data.

While Colorado’s education results were a bright spot, other measures were less favorable.

Colorado ranked second in healthcare quality but 33rd in healthcare access, a category that included affordability.

Rising healthcare costs, especially in rural and mountain communities, have long been a concern. Access has also been strained by growing maternal-care deserts, the loss of federal tax subsidies and the departure of more than half a dozen insurers from the state’s individual market in recent years. Health insurance enrollment and affordability data came from 2024.

The state ranked 47th in crime and corrections and 45th in fiscal stability. The latter included a ranking of 49th for short-term fiscal stability — a measure of whether a state can meet its immediate financial obligations, including maintaining enough capital to cover short-term liabilities and passing a balanced budget, which Colorado is constitutionally required to do.

Liquidity, another factor in short-term stability, was based on how many days of general-fund reserves the state holds. For fiscal year 2024-25, the Pew Charitable Trusts estimated Colorado had enough reserves to cover 38.9 days of spending.

Crime and public safety rankings considered violent and property crime. Corrections metrics included juvenile incarceration, racial equity and the number of prisoners per 100,000 residents serving sentences of one year or more.

The FBI ranked Colorado eighth in violent crime and third in property crime just a year later.