{"id":800046,"date":"2026-08-02T22:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T22:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800046\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T22:35:10","slug":"ohio-kentucky-rank-among-worst-state-economies-in-national-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/800046\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio, Kentucky rank among worst state economies in national study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CINCINNATI (WKRC) \u2014 Ohio and Kentucky ranked among the nation&#8217;s weakest state economies<a href=\"https:\/\/wallethub.com\/edu\/states-with-the-best-economies\/21697\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> in a WalletHub analysis<\/a>, with Kentucky finishing as the second-worst economy in the country and Ohio also landing in the bottom third.<\/p>\n<p>The personal finance website ranked Kentucky 50th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, ahead of only West Virginia, while Ohio ranked 38th overall. Indiana was in the top-half at No. 22. The rankings were based on 28 economic indicators across three categories: economic activity, economic health and innovation potential. <\/p>\n<p>Kentucky&#8217;s weakest showing came in innovation potential, where it ranked 50th. Overall, the state placed 43rd in economic activity, 38th in economic health and finished with a total score of 32.35. Ohio fared somewhat better but still ranked 32nd in economic activity, 44th in economic health and 33rd in innovation potential, earning a total score of 39.82.<\/p>\n<p>WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said strong state economies make financial success more attainable by supporting job growth, higher incomes and business investment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A strong state economy doesn&#8217;t guarantee success for the state&#8217;s residents, but it certainly makes financial success more attainable,&#8221; Lupo said. &#8220;The best state economies also encourage growth by being friendly to new businesses and investing in new technology.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Massachusetts topped the rankings as the nation&#8217;s strongest state economy, followed by Washington, Utah, California and Delaware. The study cited investments in research and development, technology jobs, startup activity and innovation as major drivers of economic performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI (WKRC) \u2014 Ohio and Kentucky ranked among the nation&#8217;s weakest state economies in a WalletHub analysis, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-800046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}