The story ranked ranked the states' economies on six measures: recent change in housing prices, nonfarm payroll job growth, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, average weekly wage, and state government surplus and deficit.
The report also looked at the Fortune 500 companies that have their headquarters in each state and which industries were disproportionately important in each state.
Connecticut's economy was downgraded in the report because housing prices fell 1.27 percent between the third quarter in 2013 and third quarter in 2014. It earned higher marks because the state's average weekly wage of $1,155 was the second highest in the country, and the 2013 gross domestic product per capita of $65,070 was the fourth highest.
North Dakota had the nation's strongest economy, according to the report, followed by Texas and Colorado.
Massachusetts (No. 10) was the highest ranking state that borders Connecticut. Other nearby states of New York ranked 12th and Rhode Island was No. 41.
Click here for the entire rankings by Business Insider.
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