30. Arkansas (Tie)

The Natural State is one of the least expensive states for business and for overall cost of living. But the state ranks near the bottom for education and innovation.

Published 4:20 PM ET Tue, 24 June 2014 Updated 3:19 PM ET Wed, 2 July 2014 CNBC.com

Category	Score	2014 Rank	2013 Rank
Cost of Doing Business	364	2	4
Workforce	168	19	7
Quality of Life	95	41	40
Infrastructure & Transportation	159	35	34
Economy	228	25	18
Education	60	37	15
Technology & Innovation	76	44	38
Business Friendliness	56	45 (Tie)	43
Cost of Living	49	2	7
Access to Capital	6	39 (Tie)	37
Overall	1261	30 (Tie)	24

Economic Profile

Governor: Mike Beebe, Democrat

Population: 2,959,373

GDP growth: 2.4 percent

Unemployment rate (May 2014): 6.6 percent

Top corporate tax rate: 6.5 percent

Top individual income tax rate: 7 percent

Gasoline tax: 40 cents/gallon

Bond rating/outlook: Aa1/stable

Major private employer: Wal-Mart

Economic profile sources: Federation of Tax Administrators, American Petroleum Institute, Moody's Investor Service, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, ArkansasBusiness.com

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