In 2018, SDSN released the first United States state-level report measuring how well US states delivered the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this new report SDSN looks at if, and how well, states are progressing towards the 2030 Goals. The results are alarming. To achieve the SDGs, states need to improve scores by an average of approximately 54 points (out of 100) in the next nine years. For reference, over the past five years US states have improved their scores by an average of three points, or a little over half a point a year. No state is on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and every state has at least one Goal and at least 20% of indicators that are moving away from, rather than towards, SDG achievement.

These findings come at a moment where there are renewed calls to drastically reevaluate and reshape US priorities in the face of devastating impacts from climate change, an ongoing global pandemic, a racial reckoning, and crumbling infrastructure. With a new Presidential administration almost at its one-year mark, this report aims to highlight what a bold vision of economic, social and environmental justice might require, and where there are examples of sustainable success that can provide a roadmap for the next three years and to 2030.

What happens in US states is both important and impactful. In 2018, US state and local expenditures were an estimated $3.8 trillion (compared with $4.8 trillion at the federal level), the majority of which goes to key SDG areas like education, health, poverty alleviation and transportation.