2023 Nutritional Well-Being Index

Nutrition is a key element of our physical and mental well-being, which contributes to a higher quality of life. Considering this, we conducted the 2023 NutriWell Index to assess nutritional well-being across the US.

The study ranks US states by analyzing 4 core pillars

Nutrition

Healthiest eaters score
Prevalence of 25 most popular diets
Number of fast food outlets
Meeting nutrients intake recommendations
Daily veggies consumption < 1 time

Mental Health

Happiness score
Prevalence of depression
Stress levels
Community wellbeing index
Rates of loneliness

Physical Health

Adult physical inactivity prevalence
% of people engaged in sports activities
Obesity rates
Insufficient sleep

Social Connections and Lifestyle

Volunteerism involvement
Marriage/ divorce rates
Smoking prevalence
Alcohol consumption
Spendings on food eaten at home / elsewhere

Explore Ranking

5 Highest-Ranking States for Nutritional Well-Being

1st

100 index Massachusetts

2nd

82.9990014 index Utah

3rd

80.4666020 index Vermont

4th

77.9814578 index Minnesota

5th

76.8653535 index Colorado

5 Lowest-Ranking States for Nutritional Well-Being

50th

50 index Mississippi

49th

52.9351587 index Oklahoma

48th

53.105652 index Alabama

47th

53.9915677 index Louisiana

46th

54.8250163 index West Virginia

Nutritional well-being refers to the intricate relationship between the nutritional landscape and the overall well-being level of different US states.

Well-being, in simple words, means feeling good. For social scientists, well-being serves as a metric that reflects how people perceive their lives. Numerous studies revealed that well-being is associated with good health, longevity, healthy habits, prevention of mental and physical illnesses, and a sense of social connectedness.¹^,²

Nutrition is a process of getting food for health and vitality. Research reveals that nutrition significantly affects body composition, physical and mental health, life expectancy, and overall well-being.³^,⁴ It influences an individual’s performance, labor productivity, and, therefore, the nation’s welfare.⁵^,⁶

The correlation between nutrition and well-being is often the most obvious yet under-recognized factor in overall life quality evaluations. The 2023 NutriWell Index deepens our understanding of that correlation to help people make healthier choices and improve their quality of life.

Methodology

The 2023 Nutritional Well-Being Index estimates how harmoniously people balance nutritional choices and holistic well-being practices in 50 US states. It includes 4 fundamental pillars: nutrition, mental health, physical health, social connections and lifestyle. These pillars consist of 20 smaller elements, which together form the score for each state.

A final ranking was calculated by evaluating the importance of each element from 1 to 5 and adding up the state subscores. Higher index scores mean a better state in terms of nutritional well-being compared to other states.

Each factor consists of one or more indicators that were scored and averaged. The equation for scoring is as follows:

For columns where a low value is better, the score is inverted such that a high score is always better:

Obtained z score dataset is normalized to a [0-4] scale, with 4 being the best score. Therefore, the higher the score, the better the state ranks compared to the other states.

The formula to normalize the data is min-max normalization:

The final score was determined by calculating the sum of the state subscores:

Ranking	State	Index
1.	Massachusetts	100
2.	Utah	82.9990014
3.	Vermont	80.4666020
4.	Minnesota	77.9814578
5.	Colorado	76.8653535
6.	Oregon	75.6937631
7.	Hawaii	75.3457260
8.	Washington	74.8798673
9.	Connecticut	74.4583201
10.	New Jersey	74.0856119
11.	New Hampshire	73.0127821
12.	Maryland	72.6340926
13.	Wisconsin	72.1875652
14.	Idaho	71.8411588
15.	California	71.3695125
16.	Virginia	70.6299932
17.	Arizona	70.4501227
18.	Maine	70.4055790
19.	Montana	70.2037013
20.	South Dakota	69.4304853
21.	Iowa	69.2804823
22.	New York	69.1594072
23.	Pennsylvania	69.0650794
24.	Michigan	68.2924377
25.	North Dakota	68.0014207
26.	Florida	67.7288187
27.	Nebraska	67.3205358
28.	Kansas	67.2400171
29.	Wyoming	66.6924705
30.	Alaska	64.9907706
31.	Illinois	64.7315678
32.	Georgia	63.8762153
33.	North Carolina	63.6126982
34.	Rhode Island	63.4293751
35.	Ohio	62.9793013
36.	South Carolina	61.8448065
37.	Missouri	61.5181754
38.	Delaware	61.1822631
39.	Nevada	59.8109216
40.	Indiana	59.7756104
41.	Texas	59.4481541
42.	Tennessee	58.0095168
43.	New Mexico	57.1170807
44.	Arkansas	56.8106845
45.	Kentucky	55.9548397
46.	West Virginia	54.8250163
47.	Louisiana	53.9915677
48.	Alabama	53.1056521
49.	Oklahoma	52.9351587
50.	Mississippi	50