Small Business News
CNBC Reveals 2019 America’s Top States for Business Study
Where should you launch your small business this year? CNBC has a few suggestions. Recently the network released its 2019 America’s Top States for Business study, ranking each of the 50 states (the District of Columbia was excluded) in terms of how attractive they are to businesses.
CNBC’s study considered a total of 64 factors and also broke results down into 10 main categories. These categories include Workforce, Economy, Infrastructure, Cost of Doing Businesses, Quality of Life, Education, Technology & Innovation, Business Friendliness, Access to Capital, and Cost of Living. The network notes that most of the data they compiled for these rankings came from federal government databases, although in instances where such statistics were not available they note that they would “seek neutral and/or ideologically diverse data sources.”
Starting with the overall results, it turns out that Virginia isn’t just for lovers — it’s also for businesses. The state not only claimed the top spot overall but also ranked first for Workforce and Education. They were followed by the Lonestar State of Texas in second and North Carolina in third. Meanwhile Utah and Washington finished out the top five. Scrolling to the bottom, Rhode Island came in 50th with Hawaii, Mississippi, Alaska, and Lousiana joining them at the end of the list.
In terms of individual category winners, North Carolina was found to have the most robust and diverse economy for business. When it comes to infrastructure, it was Indiana that came out on top while the cost of doing business is reportedly lowest in Kentucky. Perhaps not surprisingly, the state found to have the best quality of life was Hawaii while Massachusetts’ numerous institutions of higher learning helped them tie with Virginia to take gold in the education category. The influence of Silicon Valley and its numerous venture capital firms were also on display as California took top honors in both the Technology & Innovation and Access to Captial section… but the Golden State ranked dead last in Business Friendliness. Instead New Hampshire was found to be the most business-friendly state. Last but not least, when it comes to cost of living, Mississippi is still the cheapest.
One of the advantages that CNBC’s latest report has over similar surveys is that it breaks the results down into so many categories. That way entrepreneurs can consider what elements make a state attractive to them and focus on that. Still, it’s always important to note that these studies can’t quantify some of the most important aspects of owning a successful small business, such as the type of business, the market for your product, your customer service skills, and much more. For that reason, don’t let these studies discourage you from opening a business in a low-ranked state. Instead just consider this and other studies as a tiny piece of your research.
