America's Top States for Business 2015

A scorecard on state economic climate

We score all 50 states on more than 60 measures of competitiveness, developed with input from a broad and diverse array of business and policy experts, official government sources, the CNBC Global CFO Council and the states themselves. States receive points based on their rankings in each metric. Then we separate those metrics into 10 broad categories, weighted based on how frequently each is used as a selling point in state economic development marketing materials. That way, our study ranks the states based on the criteria they use to sell themselves. This year some states were tied. Learn more about our categories and methodology.

Full 2015 Top States coverage

VIEW RANKINGS: Data Table | Chart | Maps

Overall
State
Workforce
Cost of
Doing
Business
Infrastructure
Economy
Quality of Life
Technology
&
Innovation
Education
Business
Friendliness
Cost
of
Living
Access
to
Capital
1 Minnesota 13 35 9 5 3 6 2 23 32 23
2 Texas 20 21 1 2 33 11 28 14 15 6
3 Utah 29 13 30 1 20 15 31 5 11 21
4 Colorado 16 36 14 3 9 5 24 18 31 8
5 Georgia 3 32 2 4 36 16 29 11 16 5
6 North Dakota 1 25 8 13 19 41 15 1 29 31
7 Nebraska 11 15 21 20 15 32 16 5 8 36
8 Washington 27 28 33 11 7 1 18 24 36 10
9 North Carolina 16 17 23 6 33 10 30 17 23 1
10 Iowa 44 8 28 10 9 24 18 19 14 39
11 South Dakota 35 5 19 8 17 44 23 2 35 27
12 Virginia 6 37 25 36 25 14 6 3 25 12
13 Indiana 42 1 22 8 46 26 26 9 4 16
14 Idaho 32 6 27 19 22 33 47 11 3 19
15 Wisconsin 31 26 5 30 23 20 14 28 26 14
16 Florida 19 31 16 11 32 17 26 27 27 15
17 Tennessee 8 12 3 31 50 27 42 8 2 18
18 Wyoming 34 20 4 23 17 49 8 19 18 50
19 Illinois 23 29 12 41 26 9 12 45 22 3
20 Massachusetts 7 46 47 28 8 3 1 22 43 17
21 Oregon 37 27 37 22 6 13 40 26 44 22
22 Michigan 25 17 26 29 48 8 25 36 7 4
23 Ohio 43 13 11 15 43 21 20 37 19 7
24 Kansas 10 30 7 44 35 30 10 16 8 46
24 New Mexico 16 23 5 24 24 38 40 41 13 42
26 Missouri 38 11 18 33 47 23 20 15 17 24
27 California 26 49 28 7 15 2 32 50 46 1
28 Montana 48 16 12 16 13 41 32 30 30 39
29 South Carolina 22 22 14 18 38 35 39 34 21 31
30 New Hampshire 38 38 43 24 4 29 9 7 39 48
31 Oklahoma 41 9 17 14 49 43 44 21 5 33
32 Arkansas 12 4 35 16 44 46 35 37 11 38
33 Connecticut 4 47 46 26 11 19 11 32 49 30
34 Arizona 14 40 9 36 31 24 49 13 28 25
35 New York 29 44 39 31 20 4 3 43 48 13
36 Kentucky 49 2 19 21 41 39 36 40 6 41
36 Maryland 2 48 45 35 29 7 6 32 40 29
38 Delaware 14 38 39 26 30 22 38 4 37 47
39 New Jersey 5 43 48 40 13 18 5 47 45 8
40 Pennsylvania 40 33 35 46 36 11 16 35 34 11
41 Alabama 32 19 31 44 42 30 46 28 10 20
42 Vermont 47 42 44 33 2 28 3 42 41 48
43 Mississippi 21 2 23 50 39 48 47 48 1 33
44 Maine 50 34 41 42 5 36 20 39 38 26
45 Nevada 27 24 33 47 27 45 50 24 33 43
46 Louisiana 36 10 32 48 45 40 42 31 20 28
47 Alaska 9 41 38 49 27 47 36 10 47 35
48 Rhode Island 24 44 50 39 12 33 13 45 42 43
49 West Virginia 44 7 42 36 40 50 34 48 24 45
50 Hawaii 46 50 49 42 1 36 45 44 50 37

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