Montana, Indiana and South Dakota were deemed the best states for physicians to practice in 2025, according to WalletHub’s annual ranking published March 18. Hawaii, Rhode Island and New Jersey were named the worst states, placements that remain unchanged from last year’s edition of the ranking.
To conduct the ranking, WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions: opportunity and competition, and medical environment. Those dimensions are evaluated using 19 metrics, ranging from average annual wage to the quality of the public health system and hospital safety grades.
Each of the metrics was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable practice conditions for physicians. WalletHub used the average across all metrics to calculate an overall score.
15 best states for physicians:
- Montana
- Indiana
- South Dakota
- Iowa
- Utah
- North Carolina
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- Tennessee
- Wisconsin
- Idaho
- Missouri
- Louisiana
- South Carolina
- Alabama
& the worst:
- Hawaii
- Rhode Island
- District of Columbia
- New Jersey
- Oregon
- Illinois
- New Mexico
- Maryland
- New York
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- California
- Delaware
Three more notes from the ranking:
- Montana, which ranked No. 1 overall, placed first for opportunity and competition and third for medical environment.
- Utah placed first for medical environment, though ranked 27th for opportunity and rank. It ranked No. 3 overall.
- Hawaii (No. 51 overall) placed 47th for opportunity and competition, and last for medical environment.
View the full ranking and scoring here.
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