America's Top States For Business

Workforce - 2008

Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rated states based on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs.

Here are the ten categories ranked in our study:

- Cost of Doing Business
- Workforce
- Economy
- Education
- Quality of Life
- Technology & Innovation
- Transportation
- Cost of Living
- Business Friendliness
- Access to Capital

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

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
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