Gov. McKee succeeded to the office on March 2, 2021. Dan McKee is now serving a 2nd consecutive term; the current term began Jan. 2023. The scored record above covers Rhode Island's outcomes during this continuous service, lagged per category (each category's lag was fixed before scoring).
Governors › Rhode Island
Rhode Island Under Dan McKee
Democratic · Succeeded to office March 2, 2021 · Now in 2nd term
Rhode Island has trailed the typical state under Gov. McKee — No. 24 of 29 governors with rated records, across 12 categories.
Dan McKee
Rhode Island · Democratic · since March 2021 · 2nd term
Overall · citizen-weighted
No. 24 of 29
−0.36σ · 12 of 20 categories
equal-weight: −0.35σ · weighting hurts
| Category | Latest | Score vs. peers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honesty | — | In human review | |
| Spending discipline | — | Rubric in development | |
| Education scale score | 269.8 ’24 | Insufficient data | |
| Air quality AQI | 35 ’24 | +1.08σ* | |
| Water quality % of community systems | 9.8 ’25 | +0.90σ | |
| Unemployment % | 4.5 ’25 | −1.80σ | |
| Health coverage % of adults 18-64 | 7.7 ’24 | −0.42σ* | |
| Tax burden % of personal income | 6.7 ’24 | −0.90σ | |
| Energy cost cents/kWh | 28.6 ’24 | −0.51σ* | |
| Cost of living index, US=100 | 102.3 ’24 | −0.05σ* | |
| Crime deaths per 100,000 | 2 ’24 | +0.75σ* | |
| Teen births per 1,000 females 15-19 | 7.5 ’24 | −0.76σ* | |
| Wellbeing mean days of past 30 | 4.8 ’24 | +0.81σ* | |
| School food quality | — | Rubric in development | |
| School shootings | 0 ’24 | Context · 0/10yr | |
| Obesity % of adults | 31.1 ’24 | Insufficient data | |
| Early literacy % of 4th graders | 39.3 ’24 | Insufficient data | |
| Gun deaths deaths per 100,000 (age-adjusted) | 4.6 ’24 | −0.24σ* | |
| Food-aid access index (higher = easier access) | 1 ’23 | Insufficient data | |
| Jobless-benefit access % of unemployed receiving UI | 40.2 ’24 | −1.54σ* |
Data transparency — 100% of state-run reporting delivered this tenureFull reporting
Scores are trends vs. the other 49 states over this governor’s window, in σ; *thin data (under 3 points). Tap ? on any row for what it measures, its chart, and the source. All provisional while the term runs. Methodology v2.1
Unemployment Rate, 2010–2025
Rhode Island against all 49 other states Rhode Island 50-state median Other 49 states Scored window
Annual-average unemployment rate — the longest-running series on the card, charted in full. The shaded band is its scored window: it opens one year after inauguration and tracks through the newest published data. The dashed line is the 50-state median, shown for context; scoring uses the median of the other 49 states. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
The Record
Show the Work
every published number, reproducible| Air quality (EPA AirData) | +1.08σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state −12.5%/yr vs peers −5.3%/yr |
| Water quality (EPA SDWIS/ECHO) | +0.90σ · window 2023–2025 (3 pts) · state −1.8%/yr vs peers −0.3%/yr |
| Unemployment (BLS LAUS) | −1.80σ · window 2023–2025 (3 pts) · state +22.5%/yr vs peers +8.3%/yr |
| Health coverage (CDC BRFSS) | −0.42σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state +10.3%/yr vs peers +4.2%/yr |
| Tax burden (Census STC ÷ BEA personal income) | −0.90σ · window 2022–2024 (3 pts) · state −0.7%/yr vs peers −4.3%/yr |
| Energy cost (EIA) | −0.51σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state +6.0%/yr vs peers +3.0%/yr |
| Cost of living (BEA) | −0.05σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state +0.2%/yr vs peers +0.1%/yr |
| Crime (CDC WONDER) | +0.75σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state −20.0%/yr vs peers −11.2%/yr |
| Teen births (CDC WONDER) | −0.76σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state 0.0%/yr vs peers −3.8%/yr |
| Wellbeing (CDC BRFSS) | +0.81σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state −4.0%/yr vs peers 0.0%/yr |
| Gun deaths (CDC WONDER) | −0.24σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state −4.2%/yr vs peers −6.4%/yr |
| Jobless-benefit access (US DOL ETA) | −1.54σ · window 2023–2024 (2 pts, thin) · state −21.8%/yr vs peers −4.8%/yr |
| Overall (mean of domain scores) | −0.36σ · economy −0.79 · environment +0.99 · public_safety +0.26 · health −0.13 · fiscal −0.90 · social_services −1.54 |
| Methodology | v2.1, preregistered — directions and lags fixed before scoring; full dataset at /pwr.json |
Every score is a fitted log-linear trend over that category’s window, minus the median trend of the other 49 states, standardized by the spread across states (σ) and capped at ±2.5. Positive always means “moved better than peers” under the category’s preregistered direction.
Cite this
Rhode Island has trailed the typical state under Gov. McKee — No. 24 of 29 governors with rated records, across 12 categories. — Political Grades, methodology v2.1, data through 2025. Provisional; trend-vs-peers scoring; relative movement, not causation.