America's Top States For Business - 2008

Education - 2008

Education and business go hand in hand. Not only do companies want to draw from an educated pool of workers, they want to offer their employees a great place to raise a family. Higher education institutions offer companies a source to recruit new talent, as well as a partner in research and development. We looked at traditional measures of K-12 education including test scores, class size and spending. We also considered the number of higher education institutions in each state.

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

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

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